If Darkness Falls, We Are Light
by nephilim1029
Summary: A girl is pulled from Hell after 7 years. She finds her way to the Winchesters with the help of the demon Meg. The Darkness is pulling the world apart, and the girl's bracelet holds clues on how to stop her from destroying everything. Dean helps her find herself and what it means to find power in others.
**Chapter 1: No Rest For the Wicked**

I remember being chained to a wall. I remember hearing the screams that echoed so much that I couldn't tell if I was screaming or the other souls were. I remember the heat that rippled around me and signed my aching bones.

Hell.

I died and was sent to Hell.

I know I wasn't perfect when I was alive during my time on Earth, but being sent to Hell felt a little extreme.

Tonight (was it night?) felt different. I fell asleep. It was the rare time when I wasn't tortured and would get just to the edge of sleep before being woken again. Over and over and over. Sometimes I'd rather take torture over being woken just as I'd hit the edge of real sleep.

But this time I dreamt. I heard voices everywhere. Whispers and murmurs. I remember feeling the grass under my feet. The stiff blades poked the bottom of my feet, tickling more as I walked. I remember smelling fresh air. Air that smelled of sunshine and flowers and trees instead of burning flesh and fire. I saw a purple colored sunset. The sky was dark blue that slowly bled into purple and then red. I was calm. Then as darkness descended, I felt a cold shudder. Like something evil had washed over me. Then a green light flashed.

The door to my cell flew open with a unceremonious bang. My eyes slowly opened. It had sadly only been a dream. I curled into a ball, waiting on the cold shadow to take me to the torture when a woman with brown curly hair, grabbed me by the wrist and said, "Let's go."

"Go where," I asked, my voice a mixture of exhaustion and fear.

The strange woman's response was one word, "Home."

 **Chapter 2: Buried Alive**

When I opened my eyes again all I could see was darkness.

I could smell the moisture in the damp earth.

Whatever I was lying on was soft. Slowly I brought up my fingers and traced the edges of the box I was in. I felt the slick silk lining the edges.

I blinked and I was laying flat. As my eyes adjusted to the dark, I saw whitish fabric inches from my face.

I lifted my head as high as I could and I could still only see darkness.

I slid my hands down my own body and felt the familiar material of my favorite black dress. The lace bodice that dipped low and gave others a nice view. When I twisted my wrist I felt the weight of the charm bracelet that my grandmother gave me when I was a child.

The only sound in the box was my own labored breathing. I struggled to stay calm but my anxiety peaked as I realized I was soon going to run out of air. I banged on the top until my hand hurt.

I called out for someone to help me. Anyone.

And then remembered.

I died and this was my coffin.

But why was I alive again. I could feel my heart beating. I was breathing. I heard a hard knock on the top of the coffin.

"Cover your eyes," a muffled voice said. I couldn't tell if it was a woman or a man.

I raised my hands as best I could and closed my eyes. I heard the loud crack of the coffin opening. I expected a bright light, but it was nighttime.

The woman with brown curly hair reached her hand out for mine,"Come on, we don't have a whole lot of time."

I grabbed her hand. She threw me a sharp straight edge saw-like tool, "If you see one, chop off its' head."

"What?" I deadpanned.

She rolled her eyes at me, "The dead. Someone killed Death." She paused for a moment and looked around before continuing quietly, "Now people's souls are walking around in their dead bodies again."

"Zombies?!" I cried incredulously.

"Sort of. Just come on. It gets worse as it gets dark and I saw some light just about a mile away," she said as she gripped my wrist and dragged me along.

I stumbled behind her, senses heightened.

Suddenly, it dawned on me. My heartbeat echoed in my ears. It drowned every other noise out. Panic began to ball up in my chest when her voice brought me back from the brink of an impending anxiety attack, "No. You're not a zombie. I pulled your soul before it could return to its body with its mind warped," the dark haired woman stated.

I swallowed hard and opened my mouth to ask her a question.

"Yes. I know what you're thinking. Walk faster," She interrupted.

I sighed. This was crazy. It felt like a nightmare. Only more real than the constant suffering that I endured in Hell at the hands of my shadowed torturers.

Unimaginable, "How do you kill Death?" I asked.

"That's what we're gonna find out. My name is Meg."

I knew that at this point in the conversation I was supposed to give her my own name. Yet I couldn't remember what that was. Everyone has a name. I know I did before I died, but I didn't remember it. Was I tortured so much in Hell that I forgot that my own name? Before Meg became suspicious I blurted uncertainly, "Umm...Jade... I think."

Meg tilted her head to the side and raised an eyebrow.

"I don't remember it, honestly," I said.

"Guess we should have looked at your headstone before we left," she laughed slightly to herself.

I didn't think it was particularly funny, especially when I couldn't tell reality from a demon's fever dream.

Worried, I wondered, "Am I a demon? Did I finally get off that table?"

"What? No," she began as her eyes drew up and down the length of my body, "but you have protection of something around you. I don't know what. But something."

"Why did you pull me out?" I gasped out as Meg picked up the pace.

"Jesus, what is this twenty questions. I don't know. Your door was glowing green so I just opened it hoping it was a way out and it sort of was. When I touched you it transported me to the graveyard and I heard you banging so I dug you up. Shut up now. We don't know who's in this building." She ground out in an effort to silence me.

The trees parted in front of us and gave way to a ramshackle building with all the lights turned off. The wood was rotted in places and the odor of mold permeated the air. It looked like a resturant that was geared toward Mexican cuisine because of all the advertisements on the makeshift fence that shut out any light from coming in. Instead of the parking lot being blacktop or gravel, it was actually dirt. Large puddles of water littered the lot adding to the ominous feel of the building.

She moved quickly and quietly around the little Mexican restaurant. I stayed right behind her. The closer we came to the window the more it became apparent that there was a little bit of light peeking in from the inside. There had to be people inside of the restaurant. The entire walk or run, if you want to call it, to this location there wasn't a single person or sign of life. Now suddenly there was light. It could be a trap.

I heard the quiet click of a gun cock from behind me. I froze knowing that it was too good to be true. A rough voice told us to stand up. I did and so did Meg.

 **Chapter 3: A Fucking Winchester**

We both slowly turned.

There was a man. He was dressed in ripped jeans and dark colored henley. Dark work boots, covered in mud. The gun trained on us remained unwavering in the cool night. He was shrouded by darkness making it very difficult to see his features.

"Meg?" The rough voice asked.

A loud obnoxious groan sounded from Meg, "Oh I should have known it was a fucking Winchester. It was you, wasn't it? You killed Death, didn't you? Either you or your idiot brother," poison dripping off of every word.

"Well nice to see you too." He paused and looked over to me, "Who's your friend? Another demon?" Winchester snarked back at Meg.

"No. I don't know what she is," Meg paused before continuing, "yet, but can we go inside and talk about this. I'd rather not get killed. Again."

"Y'all know I'm standing literally a foot from you," I said a little pissy that no one acknowledged that fact.

Meg gave me a sly smile and Winchester snorted and began walking toward the back. He moved some shrubs around and revealed a dark opening. He stood and then simply moved the board to the side. Meg and I stood dumbfounded because we couldn't understand what he did to move the board.

Meg gave me an unceremonious shove into the building. After being in the dark so long, any little bit of light physically hurt my eyes. I squinted against both the pain and the tears that gathered at the edge of my eyes. The room wasn't overly bright, but after such a long time in hell, in darkness, any light hurts.

My eyes slowly adjusted. We were between a wall and the outside of the restaurant. I could see through the windows. And I took in the very "dia de muerte" feel of the restaurant. Colorful skulls lined the walls. There were a few scattered chairs and tables. Everything else looked like it had been used as a barricade or turned into panels for the wall. The bar was still pretty stocked.

The guy was built. He had a dirty blonde look from what I could catch from the light. He walked us around to the front of the restaurant and knocked a tune on the door. I caught a glint of green that sparkled hard in the light. I felt a fire that made my bones ache.

I could hear more voices and shuffling. I heard three clicks. The door opened. A very tall man with long brown hair led us into what was a pretty good bunker.

"Look who I found," the blonde said.

"Meg?" He squinted his hazel eyes at her, "I thought you..."

"What can I say? You just can't keep a good demon down these days." They both laughed and hugged.

"So this is Jade and no she's not a demon," she said when she saw the look on the tall man's face, "she helped me get back to this plane without becoming one of...them." She tilted her head toward the door.

"Jade, this is Sam," nodding to the tall one, "and Dean Winchester. They're hunters. Fill you in later."

They smiled at me.

"You missed someone," Sam said.

Meg tilted her head to the side in confusion and opened her mouth to ask a question when she suddenly froze. Her hands shook slightly and the only reason I noticed it was because she was standing so close to me.

Another man with dark hair and dark eyes in a trenchcoat came around the corner. The man had a weird aura that surrounded him. He looked as if he was a regular man, but power rolled off of him in waves which gave me pause.

Meg dropped her sword. She stood frozen as if she'd been just been electrically shocked. Every muscle tensed. Her eyes were wide. The man was about 20 feet away from her and he looked exactly the same. Frozen.

I shuffled a little closer to the blonde, Dean.

"What's..." I whispered and discreetly motioned between Meg and Mr. Trenchcoat.

Dean whispered back to me, "They were in love once. She's a demon and he's an angel. Castiel or Cas. She gave her life, supposedly, to save us. We thought we'd never see her again." I felt a shiver when I realized how close together we were standing. I could feel his breath ghosting across my cheek.

He looked down at me. He tilted his head when I looked back up at him. Something seemed familiar about him. But I had no idea what it was. There was a knot in my stomach. It felt like someone threw gas on the fire in my heart. I didn't remember much of my life before death, but instinct told me there was something about this man.

I didn't know if it was good or bad though.

I wasn't sure.

 **Chapter 4: But You'll Never Have My Heart**

"Do I know you from somewhere?" He asked me, his brows pulled together in concentration. As if he was trying to remember me from somewhere.

"I don't know. But you seem familiar to me too."

Meg and Cas had begun circling each other. I was sure if they were going to kill or kiss each other.

Lightning flashed and the angel's wings flashed along the wall. They were broken. Falling apart. Meg lowered her head. She whispered something. He lifted her chin and whispered something back. She started to cry. I was a little shocked to see a demon crying. Having spent so much time with them I figured the only emotions they had were torture happy and anger.

Cas and Meg disappeared around a door and I was left with the two brothers. I felt awkward. Both were unnervingly handsome. Dean had sat down and was sharpening a knife and Sam was leafing through different books.

I was just about to go and talk to Sam when another tuned knock came at the door.

"Ah supplies. I was wondering if she was ever going to get back here," Dean said.

Sam got up and shuffled some furniture out of the way and unlocked the door. He let a woman in who was carrying a hiker's pack and handfuls of bags.

She was about to say something when Sam kissed her. Hard.

I blushed and turned away. I don't know why, maybe I just didn't expect it.

"Jeez Sam, let me get through the door first. Oh yeah, I found a generator that'll support electricity through solar panels. Thank god you guys picked a place near a college town," she said as Sam and Dean went outside to get it.

"Hi, I'm Jade," I said deciding to take the first move.

"Jessica. When did you get here?" she asked.

"About half an hour ago. Someone pulled me out of Hell and we found this place."

She pulled a gun on me. I froze.

Sam and Dean came lugging the generator in and dropped it hard and ran over to Jessica.

"Whoa. Hang on there. She's not a demon and she's not a deathhead."

"She said she came from Hell." Jessica said without opening her teeth.

"Fair enough, but you don't think we vetted her before letting her in? Meg brought her," Sam said lowering the gun in her hands.

"Meg? The demon? She's alive? How?" Jessica asked with pure shock in her vo byice.

"We don't know yet. She's in the room with Cas," Dean said motioning his head toward the door.

Sam and Jessica looked and smiled at each other as if they knew something.

I blushed again.

Dean came up next to me and made me jump a little.

"Jumpy?" He asked.

"Not usually, I just wasn't expecting you to be right there."

I could see the green lighting up his eyes. I could feel the electricity sparking between us. The tension was there. I just wasn't sure about something...

I was about to ask him one of the three million questions that had been mulling around in my head when I saw a bright green light again and passed out.

 **Chapter 5: I've Drowned and Dreamt this Moment**

Car accident. Someone ran a red light and t-boned me. I died instantly. And was sent to Hell. No one ever told me why. Even when everyone else was told the list of their sins that landed them here. They just pulled me aside and threw me in a room. Every so often a cold, dark shadow would yank me out and torture me until there was nothing left but a skeleton on a board. They'd throw me back into the room and my muscles and skin and everything would grow back again. And the painful process would repeat. Every day. Except for one. Where they'd play the sleep torture game.

Every once in awhile they'd throw in game where I'd think I was back on Earth only to be shaken awake with the reality of where I really was. Their laugh was especially devilish when they played this game.

And if they were feeling especially evil, they put me in a room with my little brother. Or my mom or dad. And they'd force me to cut them to pieces like they did to me. I'd try to go fast to make it as painless as possible but the demon on my neck would whisper in a hot breath that all that did was create more pain for them. And my heart turned to stone every time I had to do that.

I was jaded now. My heart hardened by torture.

I woke up and shook my head. I couldn't be sure if this was real or another cruel joke at the hands of my shadowy torturers.

"Hey. You're awake finally."

Dean. Winchester. Meg. Mexican restaurant. I said in my head, trying to ground myself.

"How long was I out?"

"A day or so. What happened? You seemed fine."

"I don't know I saw this bright green light and then I woke up here."

"Well Meg filled us in about how you and her got out of Hell and Sam's working on figuring out the green thing. Should probably go tell him that you saw green when you passed out," he said, and turned to leave the room.

"No don't..." I started and grabbed his wrist. My eyes flashed green.

 _I saw his eyes. Glowing. I heard his voice behind me. Telling me the faster I go, the more it'll hurt. I told him he's a monster. He laughed. I could feel his hot breath on my neck as he said, "Don't worry, baby. You'll be on my table again soon." Like he got some kind of sick pleasure out of this. Out of flaying me to bone. Out of watching me suffer._

I let go of his wrist and he must have seen the fear on my face because he tried to comfort me and asked me what was wrong and all I could do was back into a corner and scream at him to get away from me.

 _Green._

 _He started with my legs. He always started there._

 _Green._

" _Wake up!" Just as I'd hit the edge of sleep, then that cruel laugh would echo through the whole room._

 _Green._

Jessica and Cas came rushing in. I huddled in the corner, my face buried in my knees.

"What happened?" Cas' gravelly voice asked.

"I don't know she touched my wrist and told me not to leave a second later she's screaming at me to get away," Dean said looking hurt and worried.

Meg came in and sat down next to me and looked deep into my eyes. For some reason, even as a demon, her presence was comforting.

"I know what happened," she said. She stood up and asked Cas to look.

"Look at what?" I asked.

"I'm just gonna touch your forehead," he said gently.

He placed two fingers on my forehead and just as quickly released.

He walked over to Dean. They were too far away for me to hear what he told him but I heard Dean's knees hit the floor and put his head in his hands.

Jessica went to him. Cas came back to me and Meg.

"He was your torturer in Hell," Meg said, cooly. She had a touch of humanity for a demon.

"Is that what you saw? How did I do that? How did I pull that from just touching him?"

"Normally, it wouldn't happen because nobody really ever gets out of Hell," Meg said, "Let alone finds their torturer."

I looked around Meg and could see Dean on the floor, shoulders shaking and I knew he was crying. I saw the green light again but this time I didn't pass out. Instead I saw things.

 _I walked around a stationary setting. Dean lying on the same table they'd cut me up on. I saw an arm flayed down to its bone. I saw Sam standing over him with a knife in his hands. Then the scene started as if it had been unpaused._

 _Sam circled around Dean. Threatening him. Telling him how horrible he was as a brother. For what he'd done to Sam as a kid. For pulling Sam back into this life as an adult. He carved another chunk of leg out._

 _"I give up. I'll take the knife. I'll do it. I'll take it," Dean screamed. Sam disappeared like a ghost and in walked Alastair. Everyone's first torture night was christened by him. He grinned at Dean._

 _"I knew you'd come around."_

 _Dean dropped from the table to the floor. Alastair put the knife next to him. Dean let out a sad sigh. A body popped up on the table. My body._

 _"It'll feel so good. Try it."_

 _Dean cut into me and his face twisted from sadness and fear to one of confused happiness. And the more he scraped at me and poked at me and cut me up the happier he became._

 **Chapter 6: Hardened by Fire**

The green faded. I looked up. No one had moved. Meg was still half way reaching out to me. Jess was still on her knees with her hand just about to touch Dean's shoulder. Time restarted.

Meg finished reaching me and Jess reached Dean. But Meg knew something had happened. I could see it on her face.

Jess helped Dean out of the room but I wanted him to stay. Cas left when Meg unceremoniously said "Girls only" and shoved him out the door.

"Spill it. And don't pretend you don't know what I'm talking about. I can feel when time stops even if it's for just a second. And yeah Cas probably knows too but he's kinda...formal about everything."

"I saw the day Dean got off the table in Hell. I was his first torture."

"Ooooh. Scandalous. What else?"

"Umm that green light showed up again."

"That's it? No gory details or fun little nuggets about that moment?" Meg asked, licking her lips.

"Umm no. Even if there were, that's kinda between me and him." I could feel my eyes flash at her. I wasn't ready to share that moment with anyone.

"You are so no fun. I'm gonna go poke around in Jessica's hell riddled brain for something to play with."

I eyed her as if she were crazy but she left. I sat on the edge of the bed rubbing my arms and legs. A feeling I'd forgotten all too quickly since leaving Hell. Fire hardened bones were an ache like nothing else. Like growing pains times a million.

When I finally felt good enough to move I walked out into the living area. Meg was over messing with her black eyes and Jess was speaking like a robot. Meg's eyes flicked back to normal when she saw me and she grinned. Jess started speaking normal, like she was right in the middle of explaining a recipe. I shook my head at Meg.

It was the first time I could see the restaurant in good light. Rooms had been formed for the three boys. Two off what would have been the kitchen and another right off the front door. Castiel's room. Probably because he was the strongest of the three.

I wondered for a moment why they were stuck here. Surely there had to be a better place than this.

"Dean's in Sam's bedroom. In case you were wondering," Meg said, jolting her head toward the middle room, with a hint of sass in her voice. Like she was egging me on to something.

I wasn't sure if I was wondering. Maybe? My torturer just beyond a small wooden door. What could I say to him? He'd probably try to apologize. He'd probably be beating himself up inside his head. I wished silently that I knew more about him. Who he was.

I knocked on the door. When he responded to come in, I did. He looked especially shaken to see it was me. I think he was expecting Jess or Cas or maybe even Sam who was out on a morning supply run.

"Hey," I said.

"Hey," he replied back, sounding like if he'd said anything else I'd start screaming again.

"Look, Dean, I know what happened. I know that I was your first. But I also know why you got off that table. And I don't blame you. We're in a really strange position with what happened between us and to us..."

"I'm sorry," he whispered.

"What?"

"I'm sorry. I should have never gotten off that table. I should have never picked up that knife. You were the seal. When a good man spills innocent blood. I'm sorry." He hung his head.

I had no idea what that meant but I touched his chin with one finger first, in case I got another vision, but I didn't so I lifted his chin up.

He looked straight into my soul with those green, hardened eyes. And in that moment, I knew exactly who he was.

"I'm not sure I know what that seals thing meant, but don't let this bring you back to that place. Don't let that darkness take you again. And don't think of me as a fragile piece of glass that will break. I've been hardened by that same fire as you."

He gave me a soft smile. I leaned forward and kissed his cheek. Soft and sweet.

"You are forgiven." I smiled and walked out of his room. As I turned and closed the door I saw just enough of his face to see his jaw hanging open. Meg gave me her most devilish smile and walked into Castiel's room.

 **Chapter 7: I Know I'd Never Be Me**

It was only then that I realized I was still wearing the dress I was buried in. I asked Jess if she had some clothes. She gave me a few pairs pants, some shirts and boots. I was so grateful for being the same size as her.

I washed my face and threw on the clothes Jess had given me. These people loved their button downs. But it fit perfectly. I rolled up the sleeves and caught my reflection in the mirror.

I was stunned for a moment. I hadn't seen myself since before I died. I'd been in hell for just about 7 years. My face was thinner than I remembered it. My hazel eyes flecked with green, almost glowed. I found a hair tie lying around and tied my hair in a bun as best as I could. I didn't remember this girl.

I didn't remember much. I just stood looking into the eyes in the mirror, as if suddenly I'd remember everything.

Once I dressed, I sat and cut up vegetables with Jessica at the table. I figured Dean would come out when he was ready. Sam wasn't back but no one seemed worried yet so I figured everything was normal. Well, normal as possible.

"So how come this place? Isn't there a better 'fortress of solitude' than this?"

Jess explained to me what hunters were, about the Darkness which was let out when the mark of Cain was removed from Dean, about the monsters that were released. Not only did a wave of sickness and raising of the dead float over 100 miles, but it was also a major electromagnetic impulse. So no transportation. Yet. She told her Dean had been working on fixing up his baby, a '67 Impala. Once they had that going, they'd be able to head back to the bunker in Kansas.

 _Green._

Jess stopped mid-sentence.

" _I got it, I got it, just give me one more seco-" and the car turned over._

" _You know maybe that mechanical engineering degree is gonna come in handy. I'm sure someday, when the world ends, were still gonna have to get around. Can't do that with no gas or electricity."_

 _Green._

"...we make do until we can travel farther," Jess finished.

"Right. I might actually be able to help with that, I think when I was in college I was studying mechanical engineering."

"You 'think'?" Jess asked, puzzled.

"I don't remember much of my life. What about you? How did you come back without becoming like them?" I asked.

Jess opened her mouth to answer when the musical knock came on the door.

"That'll be Sam."

She got up wiped her hands. She unlocked the three bolts and Sam walked in with a gear bag full of stuff and hands full of plastic bags.

I walked over and grabbed a couple and took the food to the kitchen.

I could hear Jess telling Sam what happened. I looked through the porthole from the kitchen and saw Sam drag his hand through his long hair.

"He's been hiding in your room all day," I heard Jess say through the muffled door.

I leaned against the counter I'd put the food on. I felt the weight of my bracelet and noticed a symbol on the jade stone that I'm pretty sure was never there.

I made a mental note to ask one of them if they knew what it meant.

I put what I could away and walked back out to the bar.

"Jess, he's not in here…" Sam's voice came from inside his room.

"What he has to be. I didn't see him leave…" I heard Jess say as the chair scraped against the floor.

 **Chapter 8: Child of Tragedy**

 _Green._

 _I heard the metal chair scrape slowly up to the cold metal bed I was strapped to._

" _Well, you're gonna be a fun one," I heard a deep voice say._

" _Why am I here? No one told me."_

" _Well maybe that's because someone doesn't want you to know. And that's enough questions. It's time for your inaugural night. Let's see how long you last?"_

 _I heard the slice of a metal straight razor…_

 _Green._

"Alright goddammit. You seriously need to get whatever this time stop shit is under control because it's super annoying," Meg said while pulling me out of my stupor.

She grabbed my hand opened a door and pushed me onto a cement area. "Here. Do something constructive."

I looked around. There was a beautiful black and chrome Impala in front of me.

This time there wasn't any green. But I remembered. I remembered sitting on my dad's shoulders. I had a big cone of cotton candy. I was getting sticky sugar in his hair but he didn't seem to notice or care. I wiggled wanting down. There were cars everywhere. All colors and shapes. People mumbling in front of hoods and engines. People sitting on lawn chairs next to their restored pride and joy.

But then there she was. I ran as fast as I could dropping my cotton candy. My dad called after me but I couldn't get too far ahead of him. There she was. I stopped in my tracks. Black and chrome. 1962 Chevy Impala. My dad would forever say I was the weirdest car girl he'd ever met. I touched the door handle. My dad asked the owners if I could sit in it. Somewhere there was a picture of me holding the wheel of a '62 Impala with pink sugar covered lips and the cheesiest grin on my face. I sought out the Impalas first at every car show after.

Dad. What had happened to him? The rest of my family. They all lived in the nearby town. Did they die because of the sickness let out? Did a monster get them? Or were they hiding somewhere, trying to survive like us?

I shook the thought from my head. A momentary thought flashed as to why time didn't stop or the green didn't flash for that memory. Why that was one of the few memories i could recall. Was I getting better at controlling it?

I touched the quarter panel and my fingers traced the line to the door. I felt the silky smooth paint. I closed my eyes. I felt the cold chrome handle of the first door. The chrome post. The cool glass on my top fingers and the silk paint on the bottom. The second handle. The curve of the quarter panel all the way to the trunk. I don't think I took one breath.

"So you done feeling up my car?"

 **Chapter 9: Wrong Side of Heaven**

Dean stood with his arms crossed, hands, shirt, pants covered in grease spots. Sweat beading down his forehead. Muscles ripped through his T-shirt. I felt my stomach lurch somewhere far away from where it belonged.

I should have jumped. But I didn't. A part of me guessed this is where he'd be when Sam said he wasn't in the room. This is where I'd go if it were me.

I blushed at his remark. "I have a soft spot for Impalas," I said feeling like I owed him an explanation for feeling up his girl.

He grinned at me, like it was cute that I had blushed at him.

"Whatcha working on?" I asked.

He lifted the hood. "This. Ever since the EMP she won't turn over. And I can't go far enough to find the parts that aren't burnt out."

I remembered what Jess said about the cars. "I have an idea. I was in college for mechanical engineering when I died. I made something that can make cars run in times like this."

"Something?" He asked raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah my memory is coming back in pieces. So I'm not sure exactly what it was. But Jess said this was a college town. My notes or even something to jog my memory might be at that college. But first things first. You're gonna have to pull her tranny and make it manual."

"Yeah I've been working on that. But without a starter I can't tell if it'll run."

"Brakes?" I asked.

"Oddly enough are fine."

"Ok so this wasn't your typical EMP."

"To be honest, it was probably more like demon EMP," he said, sighing.

I held my head back under the hood. Most of the wiring hadn't been burnt out but the alternator was shot.

"That's it. It was an alternator. Well not an alternator persay but it was able to conduct power using a magnet. It didn't need electricity because it generated its own."

Dean just stared at me with his eyes wide. Eyebrows raised.

"Your next run. I want in. I need to get up to that college. I can use the burnt out alternator but I'll need something only they'd have." I said my mind was flickering at a thousand miles an hour as I tried to remember every piece of that little alternator I'd built.

Dean stood next to me under the hood. I could feel the heat radiating off of him. It slowed my mind down to a crawl. What was it called? Lizard brain? My lizard brain was definitely the only thing working at this point because all I could see were the sharp lines of his jaw. The muscles in his arms down to his grease spotted hands. And in that moment I didn't think he could have gotten any hotter.

He looked at my bracelet, hanging down from my arm that was holding the hood.

He pulled my wrist down with more force than I think he realized.

"What is this?" He asked, darkness creeping up his eyes.

"I-it's a bracelet. My grandmother gave it to me. Dean, please let go." I twisted my wrist out of his hand.

"The symbol. On that green gem. Where did that gem come from?" He asked, the darkness creeping into his voice now.

"I don't know. It didn't used to be there. I only noticed it like an hour ago. It used to just be a piece of polished jade. Why do you know that symbol?" I asked suddenly very aware at how alone we were. He looked like he was about to either die or kill me.

"That mark. It's the mark of Cain."

 **Chapter 10: We Took 1000 Pictures, Just to Watch Them Burn**

"What?" What do you mean? Jess said that it was gone," I stuttered out feeling my stomach now heading north toward my mouth.

Dean asked me to follow him, but there was darkness in his eyes.

When we got back into the living area he called out for Cas and Meg.

They came out looking disheveled and this time I gave Meg a raised eyebrow. She just smiled.

Dean asked me to show the jade charm to them. After about five minutes, my bracelet was sitting on a table where everyone but me was standing over it whispering about it.

I'd had enough. I knew nothing of this hunting world they came from but I was always interested in religious theology and mythology. Monsters being real hadn't shook me because I'd seen Hell. It didn't surprise me that they were on Earth too.

"Alright, stop," there was conviction in my voice even though I was standing less than five feet from two people who could essentially kill me by snapping their fingers.

"I want to know what's going on. This is my life. And I'm getting the feeling that that mark and these flashbacks and the green light are all connected."

Meg was the first to move. She came up to me and grabbed my wrists. This time instead of green I saw darkness.

The night flashed the first time Dean picked up the knife again.

She wanted her details and she was finished waiting for me to tell her.

I heard my voice. Robotic. Like Jess.

"He picks up the knife. He starts at my left leg. Superficial. No blood. Alastair pushes him farther. He takes the knife again. He jams it into my calf. He hit a vein. Blood begins pouring out of it. He cuts the entire muscle off with a single, strong stroke. He moves up to my left arm. He cuts a long slice down my vein. Blood pours again. I can feel it's warmth against my wrist and hand."

 _Green._

 _I was outside this scene now. Meg was standing next to me._

" _Watch," she said._

 _It was so hard to keep my eyes open. I knew what happened. This night was almost more brutal than my first night with Alastair._

" _Look at your left wrist," she said._

 _My bracelet was still on._

" _How?" I asked her._

" _I don't know. Most humans get stripped of their earthly possessions. You didn't realize you had it on?" She asked._

 _Dean kept chopping away at my arm._

" _I was so used to having it and playing with it that I guess I didn't realize it."_

 _And every night of Hell flooded back in one shot and I saw that I held that small jade circle every time I had to torture my family. I held it on the nights I "slept". I doubled over._

 _Meg pulled me back up, "Look."_

 _Dean had flayed my arm down to the bone. I was crying in pain. There was no passing out from it in Hell._

 _Alastair told him to cut off my bracelet._

 _I heard the "NO" reverberate around the room._

 _My blood covered the knife as he held it over his head ready to chop my whole hand off._

 _He struck down and sparks flew off the knife as he hit the metal. Nothing happened._

" _How did I not remember this?"_

" _Because they erased it from your memory. They tried every way they could to remove it. When they finally gave up they figured there was no harm in it," Cas' voice came from next to me._

 _Blood trickled down the bracelet covering the jade pendant. That's when it flashed red and seared the mark onto it._

" _They didn't notice because it was too small of a reaction," Meg said._

 _Green._

Suddenly my body was thrust back onto the Earth. My knees buckled and my head felt heavy. I felt arms catch me as I fell toward the floor.

I heard as I slipped out of consciousness, "Dean, she was the key…"

 **Chapter 11: Something In the Night is Dangerous**

I woke with a start. It was night. I was laying in Dean's room. He wasn't next to me. A slight thought passed as I wondered where he was. I realized I was in my tank top and underwear. I fished around for a pair of jeans that Jess had given me. I got up and walked into the living area.

No one was around. I sat at the table where my bracelet laid.

I studied it. Everything about it was the same. Everything but that jade circle.

My grandmother had given it to me a year before she died. She said it had been passed down through the women in our family for years. She said it would protect me. I figured it was just the dementia talking.

But I had it with me in Hell. How was that possible? Did it really protect me? It was only then that I realized all those memories of Hell came flooding back after they had taken it off me. Was it concealing my memories of that place? Protecting me from the horrors I'd been through?

I looked at the silver and jade circle on the table. Small silver and pewter charms hanging off. Each one added by another family member. A silver sickle. A little pewter clock. Two little silver suns. The jade pendent with its mark. A small gold spool of thread. A red ruby in a cage. A little silver Impala.

If it was protecting me from the horrors I'd been through I wasn't sure I wanted it off anymore. I slipped it back on and clasped it shut. I wasn't sure I was ready for whatever the bracelet was hiding.

I stood up and walked out to where the Impala was. Sure enough, I found Dean hovering over the engine. He hadn't heard me come in. It gave me the perfect chance to fan the flames.

His muscular arms barely contained by the t-shirt he was wearing. The material of his shirt stretched deliciously across his shoulders and back. His arms and hands were covered in grease. He was gorgeous. My mind wanted to rebuke me for that thought. He was one of the worst torturers I had in Hell. But I also reminded myself of what he went through to get off the table.

I didn't know the whole story behind Dean and his brother, but to get off the table because he couldn't stand to see him like that, to hear those words out of his mouth, there must have been a deep, deep connection to each other.

My mind took a different path. It remembered the way he grabbed my wrist earlier. Scary, and it hurt, but at the same time it threw my stomach some lusty butterflies. It wanted more of that. More heat. More of him.

He finally looked up and saw me standing there watching him. I blushed and looked away as quickly as possible.

"You're up. You feel okay?" He asked me.

Butterflies flitted up and down my stomach. The smell of his sweat and grease and whatever sweet soap he used was overwhelming. I saw why women needed fainting chairs back in the day.

"Yeah. I feel fine," I said. I had a million questions. Why was I the key? What was the mark on my bracelet? Why did it protect me? What the hell was I?

But instead of bombarding him with questions, electricity sparked between us. He was less than two feet from me. His scent and presence overwhelming. He took my hand and the dangerous kind of tension in the room was hitting a fever pitch.

He took me over to the engine and handed me the alternator he'd pulled and stripped.

"You said you needed it right?" He asked.

"Yeah," my voice came across as breathy, my mind a muddled mess of hormones.

I set the alternator casing down on a table behind me. I turned around and Dean had caught my arm around my back. Less than six inches.

I could see his hardened green eyes. I could see his pouty, sugar-pink lips. I could see the slight twist in his nose, probably due to a number of breaks.

He leaned into me, a hand across my stomach, stretching me backwards as he leaned. I pushed back and we met somewhere in the middle. Lips locked in the deepest kiss I'd ever felt. As if I were the only person who could ever understand his pain, his hurt. The same flames that kissed his bones, had kissed mine.

I kissed back even harder and his hand came up to my neck holding my head. His hands were rough and calloused. Years of working on machines, of doing dirty work. His other hand had let go of mine from behind me and slipped under my tank top, holding the small of my back.

Those rough hands soon became as smooth as silk as his fingers inched their way up my back hitting every spot that set off fireworks in my head. The smell of him, machines, sweat, soap, Dean. It was intoxicating. I moaned into a kiss, my head swimming in him.

My hands had made their way to his arms and head. I ran my fingers through his spiky hair. I tugged and he fell backward and I was leaning him against the Impala. I straddled his thigh. Our kisses deepened. My tongue wanted nothing more than to taste all of his mouth. He was no different. Trying to find every inch of my mouth he could reach. I bit lightly on his bottom lip and I could feel a smile across his lips.

He stood up, not leaving my kisses. One hand left me and I heard the hood slam behind him. He moved both hands down to my ass and picked me up in one quick motion and sat me on the edge of the hood. His hands moved back under my tank top. Now he was moaning into our kisses. Mine fiddled with trying to remove his shirt. I wanted to see him. The heat was rising and I could feel the fire lick my bones. But this was different. This could set the world on fire.

His mouth moved down my neck and I let out a moan that was filthy, even for me.

He came up to my ear, "That's it, baby," he whispered with hot breath.

Something in me shuddered. I could see green tinting the edge of my vision. But I fought it back. I knew what it was. It wanted to pull me back to that moment. It was Dean on my neck, in my ear with his hot breath in Hell. Pushing me to do what I didn't want to do. I refused to let it overtake me again. These memories were not about to take this away from me.

The green disintegrated from my eyes but it was too late. Dean knew something was wrong. Something happened. We both pulled apart from each other as if someone had just doused all that fire with a waterfall.

I bit my lower lip.

"It was me wasn't it."

"No! It's just, I'm still learning how to push these memories away," I tried to explain, "It's not your fault. My body just isn't used to being on Earth let alone trying to force memories of Hell away. And you weren't my only torturer."

He took my hand. He kissed my hand. He kissed my wrist, my arm. "I will kiss every part of you that I cut until you don't remember me like that."

"Dean, I know you as a tortured soul that was forced off that table. Now that I know the truth of why you got off. I don't blame you. We've already been through this."

He took my hand and we walked back toward his room.

"How come you never got off the table?" He asked me.

"I-I don't know. Stubbornness? Maybe I couldn't. Maybe this," I held up the bracelet, "wouldn't let me."

He kissed me, hard. And for a moment the whole world stopped.

 **Chapter 12: Taste of Fear**

I jumped in the shower, scrubbing hard at the grease that Dean had left on my body. It sent a shiver through me every time I thought about that moment in the garage.

I dressed quickly and Dean jumped in next. I laid in the bed. I knew we wouldn't have much sleep before the morning would come and I'd have to go out into the real world for the first time in seven years. I knew nothing would be the way I remembered it. Jess and Sam painted a pretty good picture.

Sam had taken me on for the last week quizzing me on monsters and how to kill them. How to spot different deathheads.

Those that were recently dead were relatively unchanged. Like humans but you could see their bodies rotting. They could turn mean at any moment. There were deathheads that just sat and rocked. Or just laid mumbling. They were the oldest souls. If you could even call what had returned to their body a soul. They were harmless. It was the souls that had been tortured long enough to have a scarred soul, but still have a soul left. They were fast and dangerous.

I had a silver machete. I was never really good with knives. My dad tried to teach me but I was always shit. But it would kill just about anything we faced. I also had an iron crowbar and a lighter and salt. Apparently ghosts had become unhinged from whatever they were tied to and were wreaking havoc everywhere.

I knew I wasn't ready for this but I had to get to that college. I had to get to my house.

Meg and Castiel were going to hold down the fort. Jess and Sam were going to go for supplies and Dean and I were gonna head up to the college and see what we could find.

"Hey Sam, come here," I said to him. Dean and Jess were rechecking the packs, making sure they had everything.

"What's up?"

"I'm scared."

"Hey, you'll be okay. And I wouldn't trust anyone but Dean with your life. He's really taken a liking to you. The first time I've seen that in a long time."

I blushed and smiled at that thought. "Can you find me a bow? Like a recurve or a compound bow. I'm way stronger at that then a knife."

"Yeah, I'm sure I can find something at the sporting goods place in town, but you know a knife is faster," he said a smile in his eyes.

"Not with a bow in my hands," I said back.

He let out a small laugh, "Okay. No problem. Ill grab as many accessories as I can find."

"Thanks Sam."

He smiled and wrote something down on the list he and Jess had started.

"Ready to go, kiddo?" Dean asked me.

"Not really, but I don't have much choice."

"You'll be fine. I've got your back. I'll always have your back," he said.

Meg nodded and winked at me as I went past. I rolled my eyes at her.

I walked out into the sunlight. Two weeks out of the box and it was the first time I'd seen the sun. I heard the three clicks of the locks behind us. A thought passed quickly as to what Meg and Castiel would be doing with all their alone time. Then I let out a little laugh.

Dean smiled at me, like he knew exactly what I was giggling about.

We walked through the forest behind the restaurant. The way that me and Meg came the first night. It was safer than the road, where deathheads looked for food and people to torture.

We came up to the graveyard. I saw all the holes out of the ground. Everyone had crawled out of their grave. Except for one. Mine.

Mine was carefully dug up. The box wasn't broken. I looked at the tombstone:

Amanda Lynn Clotho Born January 21, 1962 Died July 13, 1984- Mother and Wife

Jade Moira Clotho Born July 12, 1984 Died May 1, 2009 -Beloved daughter and friend

David Angelo Clotho Born April 16, 1957 Died September 27, 2010- Beloved father and friend

"Oh my god. Dad. No no no no no…"

I sunk to my knees. My mind warped. It tried to wrap its head around the fact that my father was dead. And then dread swept over me like hurricane.

Dean kneeled next to me. "I'm so sorry, Jade. But take solace in knowing he went to Heaven."

"How do you know that," I asked through sobs.

"There are no holes. If you mother was buried to the left of you and him to the right, and there are no holes they went to Heaven."

My heart, as it was breaking into pieces, could feel some of the relief in that thought. At least I wouldn't have to put any of them down.

"In fact, it looks like your whole family plot didn't go to Hell."

I looked to the next tombstones. My grandparents. The ground still intact. My aunts and cousins in back of my tombstone, intact.

"Then why me? Why did I go to Hell?"

"Good question. Maybe Meg can shed some light on that when we get back. But we gotta get moving."

"Right. Burning daylight," I said. As we left the graveyard my heart was heavy. Like a weight had been placed on it. I tried to focus on the task at hand.

I remembered where my house was. It was first. I could see a group of deathheads wandering around the house next to it. Dean lit a handful of firecrackers and threw them as far as he could away from the house.

As they ran toward the noise we ran toward the house. I dug the key out of the hidearock. I was just glad it was still there because there was a for sale sign in the front yard. I didn't know what I expected to find. It had been 5 years since my father passed. All the rooms were empty. I pulled the attic stairs down. Boxes.

"Bingo," Dean said.

"Maybe," I said.

I dug through boxes quickly, but quietly. We couldn't risk getting trapped up in an attic if the deathheads outside decided to come back.

I found a couple of my grandmother's journals which I packed up, grabbed a photo album. But there was one really old wooden box at the back of the attic. I'd never seen it before. I took out the spike holding the latch closed. There wasn't anything in it except a book that looked like it was written in Greek.

I was about to call Dean over to ask him what he thought. When I heard a creak come from downstairs.

My eyes widened. I heard the board under my foot crack.

"DEAN!" I yelled as I felt my leg get pulled out from under me. Dean disappeared down the stairs. I felt my leg let go. I threw the book toward our bags and grabbed the machete. I jumped through the hole in the floor and wound up behind a huge hulking dog standing on two legs.

I landed softly enough that he didn't hear me. I tried to file through everything Sam had taught me. Werewolf. Silver. Heart.

It was creeping up on Dean fast and I felt my heart shatter as it lunged and so did I. I aimed at what I thought was the heart and felt it go limp as Dean slithered past him just out of reach of getting scratched.

He backed into a corner, breathing hard. I pulled the machete out of what was now a man.

"Thanks," he said, still trying to catch his breath, "we need to get out of here now. In case, he brought friends."

I ran up to the attic threw the book in his pack and threw it to him. We made it back out into the street and made our way quickly up to the college. Behind me I could hear the howl of wolves. At noon.

"They'll have our scent. We need to move fast," Dean said pulling out a gun and loaded it with silver bullets.

My body wanted to pass out right there. What the hell was this? I'd lived my life in blissful ignorance of the idea that there really were things that go bump in the night. I thought coming out of Hell and not being surprised at the idea of monsters, my mind was already accepting of that fact. Apparently not.

I doubled over behind a car and puked. I felt Dean's hand on my back.

"You'll be okay. First kill is always the worst and best. Especially when you're not ready for it, but you're a natural."

His words were slightly comforting. The howling stopped. They were looking for us.

"We need to move. Now!" Dean whispered loudly to me.

 **Chapter 13: Saw an Angel Become the Devil**

We broke out into a sprint. We were only about half a mile from the college. Granted we had no idea what waited for us in there either but it was safer than being out in the open. Every so often I would hear Dean blow off a shot and hear the wounded whimper of an animal.

We raced up the steps of the Feldman College. He slammed the doors behind us. I found a metal pole to place in handles. Dean laid a salt line and lit it on fire.

"What's that supposed to accomplish?" I asked, trying to catch my breath.

He didn't answer me at first. He watched the salt burn all the way across the door.

He took a deep breath.

"God, I hate running. And to answer your question, it burns off the smell of us. All they smell is burnt salt."

"They won't know we're in here?"

"They would if I hadn't thrown my shirt into a tree about two blocks back. The wind would take the smell eastward. Away from us."

As he said that I realized he was in just a T-shirt stretched taut across his chest. My mouth salivated. I had it bad.

"Jesus. You learned all this hunting these things."

"You pick up all sorts of tricks and tools along the way. That doesn't always work, but these monsters they seem to run purely on instinct as opposed to their pre-darkness counterparts which used instinct and strategy."

I shook my head. I didn't know if I was cut out for this kind of life. But it didn't matter now I'd have to get used to it.

We started to walk to the engineering building but we heard the doors rattle from where we just came.

We both ducked and Dean pressed a finger to his lips.

"Dean?! Jade?! Are you in there?" Sam's voice rang muffled through the door.

Dean pulled the pole out of the door. Sam and Jess slipped in quickly and Dean refastened the door.

"We heard the shots. Werewolves?" Sam asked.

"Yeah. And this one here killed her first one." Dean said with pride in his voice.

Jess raised her eyebrows.

"I puked," I said, not nearly as proud of what I'd done.

"So did I the first time," Jess said, "It's okay."

"Oh hey, got you something." Sam said pulling a riser and two arms out of his backpack, "I figured you pulled about 25-30 lbs." He pulled out a string and gave me a quiver full of bows.

And if it were like breathing to me, I put it together in two minutes flat.

The three of them looked at me like I was crazy. It was probably the first time I'd done something that was more along the lines of stuff they see everyday but had yet to see out of me.

"The arrows. They're silver tipped with iron shafts," Jess said, "I grabbed all the ones I could find."

"Wow, must have been some store you guys found. Almost no one carries those anymore, except…" Then like an idiot I blushed. I forgot. I was in my hometown. One of the few to carry silver tipped arrows.

"So the chemistry labs are upstairs. Iron and silver even in powder form I can change to create more bullets. Me and Dean are gonna head for the engineering labs. It's right across the quad." I said, with a little conviction in my voice, trying to make up for forgetting that this town was home.

Sam and Jess walked up stairs. I held the bow in my hand with an arrow already attached.

"You know, knives are faster," Dean said.

"Not in my hands," I said back.

He just shrugged and we cut across the quad to the engineering rooms. We finally broke into the third room. I could see the Faraday box on the table. Keeping everything in it safe from and EMP.

I put my bow down on the table and told Dean open it. I knew what was in it. There was only one thing worth saving from an EMP blast.

I felt the green flicker around my eyes. But I grabbed hold of the jade pendant on my bracelet. It subceded. I could see sitting in this classroom. Third row, fourth desk.

I remember showing the paperwork and design of that alternator to my professor, who agreed to let me use it as my senior thesis, if I could get it to work.

I remember fumbling for weeks with my dad. I remember finally, finally getting it to turnover. Both of them were so impressed. I died. A week before graduation.

I sifted through the professor's files which was kept in a locked cabinet I had Dean break into. Every so often I would glance over at him and could see him eyeing me up and down. Like he was undressing me. When he would catch my eye, he would turn away and I could see the blush run up his neck and ears.

I found the schematics for the alternator. I was more than pleased. I went back to Dean who was still fiddling with trying to get the Faraday box unlocked.

"Seriously, this lock is ridiculous."

It wasn't a normal lock pick lock. It was numerically coded.

"What have you tried?" I asked.

"Well a four digit code, I tried the year the school opened, the date of the professor's birth, the room number…" he kept on with a couple of other numbers.

"Can I try?"

"Have at it. I'm gonna go look some more in the other room. See if there's anything I can use for Baby," he said, annoyed at the lock.

I looked at the lock. Four digits. Crossing off the dates and numbers Dean already tried, I tried variations on my birthday. The only thing that would be usefully kept in a Faraday box would be that alternator. 0712. 7128. 0784. 1284. Nothing. I had one last idea. I didn't expect it to work. 0509. Click. The sides of the box lifted up.

The month and year of my death. I sighed. As I was about to open up the box, I felt something shift behind me. I grabbed the bow.

Nothing behind me.

"Dean?" I called out. No answer. I felt the hairs on my neck stand up.

 **Chapter 14: Not to Fail, Not to Fall**

I walked out into the hallway. A werewolf had Dean in a headlock. Ready to snap his neck.

"Put it down, pretty girl," the wolf growled at me.

"Not a chance."

"I'll snap his neck."

A cold wave crashed over my stomach. I held my resolve. Adrenaline coursed through me. Hyperfocused. Hyperaware.

The wolf's heart was literally an inch to the left of Dean's jugular. I'd have to be perfect, after seven years.

I could feel my arm wavering. I saw the wolf tighten it's grip on Dean harder. I'd have to release and re-aim. But it would have to be lightening fast. I didn't have time to be unsure.

I released and dropped the bow so the arrow pointed to the floor.

"Good gi-"

I picked up the bow, pulled, green tinged the edge of my eyes, and as if time had stopped, took a breath in and released.

I saw Dean drop to the floor, the wolf had changed back into a man.

Dean wasn't moving. I moved slowly. I saw blood. Oh no. I'd fucked up. I'd hit Dean.

But as I got closer I saw he was breathing. I dropped the bow and ran to him. I got out the water and splashed some on his face. He finally came to coughing.

"I told you I was faster with a bow."

"You know he could have snapped my neck before that arrow ever reached him," Dean said through coughs. His voice sounded rough.

"No he couldn't have. Trust me. I threw enough weight onto that bow, that arrow was going faster than he ever could have moved."

"I'm kidding. I'm fine. Although an inch more to the right and you would have killed me."

I looked down at him, still rubbing his neck and taking swigs of water. When he finally took the water bottle away from his mouth, he was about to say something but I got there first. Hard.

He took my head in my hands and time seemed to stop around us again. He tasted like the cool water he'd just drunk. But he was overheating. I could feel the heat from his hands on me. He bit at my mouth and I opened letting his tongue in. My warm mouth mixed with his cool tongue, pushed my body into overdrive. He pushed back against me. He broke first.

"Trust me, I'd love to stay in this moment. Especially since you just saved my life, but.."

"Time. I know. C'mon, I got that box open."

"Really? What was the combo?"

"My death month and year."

For some reason that sounded weirder out loud than I thought it would.

The adrenaline was still coursing through both of us and it was like he couldn't not touch me somewhere. My hand, my back, my arm, my butt.

We made it back to the room with the box. I opened it up. My jaw fell to the floor.

I picked up the machine. My machine. Hooked straight to a starter. Perfectly intact. I picked up the key in the box. Turned. I saw the magnet start to turn and sparks fly. It still worked.

"It still works."

Dean just stood with eyes wide. This meant we could get out of this place. Somewhere better suited for these kind of conditions. And plenty of miles away from the blast radius of this darkness. I shut the box quickly relocked it and carried it out into the hallway.

We heard the shatter of glass.

"DEAN! We've got to go! NOW!" Sam's voice boomed down the hall.

 **Chapter 15: Hail to the King**

Sam and Jess were running toward us pointing toward the back door.

We turned and ran for it. Then it felt as if someone had blown my eardrums out. All I heard was the high pitched screech of something. I turned and saw everyone falling to their knees covering their ears.

Sam and Jess made their way to us.

"Awesome," Dean said, sarcasm dripping off this voice, "don't they have better things to do than mess with the living when the dead are running around?"

Jess mouthed the word "reapers" to me.

I didn't know much about them. I knew they came for you in death. I vaguely remember being touched by one as I died in my car. But I also knew they were extremely pissed that Death had been killed.

The four of us were lined up in the hallway across from each other.

The reapers stormed in. We all put our hands up. We had no quarrel with them.

"Ahhh, the Winchesters and friends," said the tallest reaper. He had a heavy Irish accent. He wore a black trench coat which was rolled up at the sleeves. He had a sickle tattoo on his arm.

"What do you want Artemis? If you haven't noticed there's plenty of DEAD people out there for you to take," Dean said vitroly.

The reaper laughed and walked up to him and smacked him across the mouth. This forced me to stand up. I was met with bindings that floored me.

The reaper raised an eyebrow at me. "Found yourself a loyal one there. What's your name, love?"

The gag around my mouth removed itself. "Go fuck yourself."

The gag was immediately placed back on. Restraints were then in order for everyone else too.

"See here, love. These two boys you're with killed our father. And see, we're not too happy about that. So you picked the wrong people to get involved with. Before you go, we should tell you that these two tend to leave nothing but a trail of bodies soaked in blood and despair behind them. Damn the loyalty to them."

Artemis took two steps back, dragging me out of line with the group. He then looked at the sickle on his arm and pulled it out like it were just held inside his arm.

"These boys, think they can get away with anything, damn the consequences. Not this time. See this wake of bodies includes a lot of collateral damage, people like you who follow them blindly. Believing in what they're doing is the right thing. And you see, love, this time their blind ignorance has let out something that can't be stopped. And you might be wondering why they're still alive. Because their time will come. But not a second before they're begging for death. Not a second before we've taken everything from them."

I felt for the bracelet on my arm. I saw Artemis lift the sickle over his head; I heard three muffled voices cry out behind me.

"Sorry, love. You're just collateral damage."

As he swung down toward my head I felt the silky jade piece in my fingers. The calm I felt in holding it. Two whole weeks on Earth. That's all I'd gotten out of this deal. I wondered where I'd go this time. I clamped down hard on the stone between my fingers.

There was a blast of green and everyone around me was blown back at least five feet. Binds fell. Dean kicked me the bow near his feet. I got off one shot. It landed straight through the heart of Artemis, who fell to his knees. I knew it wouldn't kill him but it would stop him long enough. I picked up his sickle and slashed it through him. He disintegrated into ash. But instead of the sickle disappearing with him it stayed in my hands.

The reapers behind him ran off as quick as they could. I turned around to face my group and the sickle disappeared. The silver sickle on my bracelet glowed for a moment.

The three of them looked at me, eyes wide.

Dean was the first to speak, "Are you a reaper?"

"Not that I know of…"

"That sickle should have disappeared with him. How did you hold onto it and where did it go?" Dean asked walking slowly toward me.

"I don't know how I held it. But I think it went into my bracelet," I said showing him the sickle charm.

"Guys, I know this is all really confusing but we've got at least three miles home and it's getting dark. We don't wanna get caught out here," Jess said, trying to refocus everyone.

We picked up our packs and I grabbed the box on the floor.

Dean grabbed my hand as we stealthily made our way out of town.

 **Chapter 16: Righteous Side of Hell**

The walk home was much less eventful than the walk there. No one spoke. We made it back to the restaurant just as darkness plastered the whole sky.

Once we made it inside and the doors were sealed. Meg and Castiel asked how everything went.

The four of us looked at each other and just started laughing. What else was there to do?

Sam was still wiping tears away when he put six glasses on the bar counter. Filled them all about halfway with whiskey.

Everyone took a glass and found a chair. Me and Dean started. I finished the story by myself, watching the bottle of whiskey go around the room.

Meg and Cas just sat. Neither of them took a drink the whole time.

Castiel got up and set his glass on the table. He looked at my bracelet.

"Do you think you could pull sickle out of the charm?"

"What difference would it make if she could?" Dean asked, some slurred words. Sam took his glass away and gave him water. He pouted.

"It would give us somewhere to start when we get back to the bunker. If she comes from a family of reapers…" he began.

"...then her family might be on the list of reapers the Men of Letters knew of," Sam finished, "It's a start."

"You said this bracelet threw up a green barrier around you when the reaper tried to kill you, correct?" Castiel asked me

I nodded.

"You were holding the jade pendant?"

I nodded again.

"Even if she was the key before, when the lock was removed this symbol would hold no power. This bracelet has some kind of spell or curse surrounding it."

"Curse?!"

This time Meg piped in, "A curse isn't necessarily bad. If it's a family curse it's followed your whole family through the bracelet. If it's a curse related just to you then there'd be a trail. Every curse or spell has roots. Even the first curse." Her eyes shifted to Dean. He rubbed his right forearm.

"Okay, Meg, I have a question for you. We found my whole family in the graveyard. Every single one of them went to heaven. Why did I go to Hell?" I asked, the liquor making my tongue a little loose.

"Best guess? Someone was hiding you. Same reason you weren't read the sins that sent you there. They wanted you hidden. From everyone. So not even the demons knew. The only one who probably did was locked in a cage."

My booze fueled brain didn't get that remark and she saw it.

"Lucifer. He's the only person who would know why you were there without being read your sins."

Everyone let out a collective sigh and looked at Sam. It was obvious I missed something in the past between Sam and Lucifer.

Instead of focusing on what I'm pretty sure I knew Sam didn't have an answer to, I focused on pulling the sickle out of the bracelet. I held what would have been the wooden base and pulled. Green light spilled forth as the whole sickle came out.

"Ok, reaper family," Sam said.

"These other charms. Do they have meaning to you?" Castiel asked.

"Not really. Or at least I don't know the meaning behind them. They were already on there when it was given to me. The only one I added is this one," I said, pointing to the car.

Castiel didn't say anything. Neither did Meg. I felt like they were having a silent conversation about what was going on between the two of them. I still wanted to know what I was the key to.

Jess got up. "I'm beat. It's been more than enough excitement and information for one day."

Sam followed her into their room. Castiel and Meg were still staring each other down.

Dean walked over to me and whispered in my ear, "Come on, baby, let's go to bed."

The words sent a shiver down my spine. It stirred the butterflies in my stomach. I knew he had no intention of sleeping.

 **Chapter 17: Shake**

I saw Meg and Castiel finally break their stare. They walked to their room. And as Dean was pulling me into his, I saw Meg's eyes flash black at me.

As soon as Dean had the door shut he pushed me up against it. Hands fisted in my hair, mouth on my neck. The booze in my brain was making me braver than I knew I was.

I didn't do this. I've only known this man for a few weeks. I knew almost nothing about him. I knew he was in Hell. I knew they had some kind of relationship with demons and angels. I knew they'd met Lucifer. I knew they were hunters and I knew what that meant. I knew about their mom and Jess and that demon. I knew he loved his Baby. But beyond that he was a mystery.

"Hold that thought," I said to him, breathier than I'd meant, and I opened the door to go to the bathroom. I needed a breath.

I looked in the mirror. Again I didn't remember this girl. I knew this was something I didn't do. But there was so much tension and electricity between us. I don't know if it was the fire of Hell that forged that between us or if it was natural. Maybe both?

But what did he know about me. I possibly came from a family of reapers. I died and was sent to Hell. I was the first soul he tortured off the table making me the innocent blood that opened the first seal, which I still wasn't sure what that meant. It also made me the key. Another thing I didn't understand. He knew I was in mechanical engineering. He knew I loved Impalas. He knew I was a natural hunter. I ate up the lore Sam fed me like I was starving. He knew something protected me.

That was almost less than I knew about him. Both of us had pasts that we either didn't talk about or know how to explain. Mine was a little more complicated because of my memory loss.

I splashed some water on my face. I took my button down off leaving me in my tank top and jeans. Maybe it didn't matter. Maybe there was just something between us that was deeper than our histories.

The whiskey was hitting me harder now. I could feel the warmth spread through my whole body and suddenly I wanted nothing more than his mouth, his arms, his heat. It shook through me. Down to my core.

I walked back into the bedroom quietly. He was turned away from me. The small light from the table left a shadow on him. He was in jeans and he was peeling his t-shirt off. I saw the line of his shoulder slope down to his blades. He had scars. Deep. I wanted to make him forget his pain, forget every scar he'd ever gotten.

I felt the heat spread across me. My breathing increased. I could feel the pull of lust. I didn't just need him. I wanted him. More than anything. More than anyone I could remember.

He turned around and I saw the muscle ripple across his stomach running into the V that hid just under his jeans. My brain shifted in overdrive. A shiver slithered up my spine. I gave in.

 **Chapter 18: You're the Right Kind of Sinner**

He walked over to me and slammed me against the door. A noise I felt like he'd heard too many times come from Sam and Castiel's room lately.

He pinned my arms above me, holding them with just one hand. He was way stronger than I had anticipated.

I let out a long breath.

"There you are…" he said in my ear, "You're mine tonight."

My knees buckled under me but his hands were holding me tight upright.

His mouth found mine and I could taste the whiskey and water on his breath. Heat radiated between us. He wrapped his other hand around the small of my back pulling me into him, stretching my hips toward him. I was very suddenly aware of his hard on pushing against my thigh.

My brain shifted gears and I moved my hips so that I was rubbing up against him. He broke our kiss to let out a filthy moan. I grabbed his mouth back, and he moaned into the kiss as I moved my hip to push against his cock.

He let go of my hands and turned me around and pushed me toward the bed. At some point he'd gotten my jeans undone and pulled them off me as I backed onto the bed. I threw off my tank top, leaving me in my bra and panties.

He slid his jeans off and then stalked me up the bed, between my legs.

"I've wanted you since I saw you in that little lace dress you showed up in," his voice was rough, breathy, wavering. Like he couldn't control it.

I was able to hook my leg around his and flip him so he was on the bottom. He let out a growling laugh.

"Fuck, Dean, you're gorgeous…" I slithered out, as I slid his boxer-briefs down his legs. His cock popped out and my eyes went wide. He was thick. And long. I stayed between him, my hands on his chest taking in all of his allure. I traced each muscle with two fingers all the way down to that absolutely perfect V.

He groaned with need, but I wasn't ready to give him what he wanted yet. I sucked long kisses into his chest, making my way slowly down. He moaned every so often. Then I would brush my hand lightly along his entire length.

"Fuck, Jade, Jesus."

It went on like that for about a minute before he started to squirm.

I made small kisses down his hips getting closer and closer to his erection. I took just the head of his cock in and he arched and moaned in response. I could tell he was aching for this. I took my mouth off and blew cool air on him. He swore in a filthy moan.

"Fuck, Jade. I want your mouth on me."

"Is that right? Well we don't always get what we want, do we?" I breathed in his ear, biting it as I made my way back down, running my fingers up his length. I moved my way back down to that hard cock, and took his head in my mouth running my tongue around his whole length. He tasted like sweat and salt and soap. It was an intoxicating taste.

He swore something in a breathy moan. He'd had enough. He flipped me back over and removed whatever clothing I had left.

"God, you're beautiful…" he breathed out loud.

Even through all the heat, I blushed.

He bent down and left a sweet, chaste kiss on my lips.

His mouth moved expertly down my neck and shoulders, hitting every spot that made me see stars. Every spot that forced a raunchy noise out of me. He'd whisper into my ear and all I could do was moan against his neck.

I hitched my hips up, needing him like air.

His smell was overwhelming all my senses and I felt drunk on him.

His hands cupped my breasts, teasing my nipples, causing another arch and filthy moan from me. I fisted his hair as my back rose off the bed.

"God, I love that noise out of you," he said before planting a deep kiss on my mouth. I tried to keep him as long as I could there but he moved downward taking my tits in his mouth.

The wet heat from his mouth was making me writhe. I wasn't going to last much longer.

"Dean...I need...I need you."

I felt his fingers inch their way lower. His mouth met mine. His tongue tangling with mine. His thumb pressed against my clit and I yelped into his mouth. I was soaking wet now.

"You are so ready for me aren't you?"

"D-dean, please," I begged.

He pushed two fingers into me and I felt myself levitate off the bed. My brain somewhere from the depths reminded me that it had been at least seven years since this.

I felt his weight shift from the side of me to reach for his nightstand. I knew what he was after.

"We don't need it."

"You sure?"

"Yeah. I trust you."

I felt a dark smile as he kissed me then settled between my legs. I looked up at him and he was sucking on the fingers he'd just pulled from me.

"Oh god, you're like honey. So sweet."

He lined up with me and I wrapped my legs around his back. He moved so slowly at first that I thought I was going to scream with anticipation.

He was halfway in when he pushed all the way home.

"God...Jade...Jesus…"

I let out a small noise and reached for his back. Pulling him into me as far as I could.

He bent forward and I lifted up our heads meeting in the middle to find each other breathing a heavy, low, guttural moan. Something both of us hadn't had in a long, long time.

"Holy fuck, you feel so good, so fucking tight…"

He kissed every inch he could find of me. I could feel my nails digging into his back the farther into me got. I bit into the triangle of his shoulder. He cried out, then grabbed under my hips and tilted me toward him.

"FUCK!" I screamed.

He'd found it. That sweet spot. He'd kept hitting it over and over. I could feel him twitch inside me. His breathing got heavier. His moans got lower. I'm pretty sure I heard a growl from him.

He pushed into me hard. Then he'd back out slowly, teasing me as he reached just the very tip head before slamming back into me. Calling out to me each time.

"Come on, baby. Give it up to me. I want to feel you come around me."

I could feel myself unravel. He was hitting that spot hard, rough, and fast. That hot, whisper of words broke what little resolve to hold out I had. I felt my body seize up, I closed my eyes and saw spots behind my eyes. I could feel my pussy squeezing around him as my breaths came harder and faster until I was outright moaning.

"Oh fuck, Dean, fuck yes!"

Then I felt his cock jerk inside me as he came. Hard. I heard him moaning my name and I kept pace with him until I felt him shudder under the end of his orgasm.

He fell with his head just to the side of me. I turned my head and kissed him sweetly.

He opened his eyes. Those hardened emeralds had softened just a touch. His eyelashes swept across his eyes slowly as he blinked.

Both of us were breathing hard. I was staring at the ceiling and he had his eyes closed facing me. His leg and arm were draped over me.

I took a deep breath. Hormones rushed through my brain. His weight and heat were so soothing. Both of our breaths began to slow. I listened to his heartbeat. It finally slowed. I wanted nothing more than to stay in that moment forever. But I didn't trust sleep much anymore. And I had things to do.

I kissed him on the forehead, slid out softly from under his grasp and covered him with the comforter.

He was something else to look at. I could stand over him and remember every single angle and scar and taste of him. My brain fired away at hammering this memory into me. Trying to sear every detail of what just happened.

I slipped my clothes back on, but as I left the room, my focus shifted to the box on the table.

 **Chapter 19: Misery Loves My Company**

I put the code into the box. It snapped open. I pulled out the little alternator and starter it was connected to. I was going to have to make some adjustments to the Impala to get it to run off just this. I grabbed the bottle of whiskey Sam had given us earlier and walked out to the cement garage.

I opened her hood. I placed the alternator where it would normally go. I had a sinking feeling the starter wires were too short, and I was right.

I dug around the scrap that Dean had pulled from the Impala and other stuff he'd brought from outside. I welded a cage that would hold the alternator where it could reach the starter. I started maneuvering wires from the tranny and engine hoping this little machine would generate enough power to at least get her running. I felt someone watching me.

Dean was standing in the garage doorway. Just jeans. My head swooned.

"Are you okay? I didn't…"

"No! No, nothing like that. I don't trust sleep anymore and it's just...it's been at least seven years since I was with someone and I don't really know you and you don't really know me, but that was probably the best sex I've ever had in my life…" I knew I was babbling.

Dean took my head in his hands and kissed me. He tasted sweet and cool against the whiskey on my breath.

"Hey, it's ok. Slow down. Breathe. We have time to get to know each other better. There's a lot in both of our lives that I think are intertwined more than we realize. And you without a memory, I'm sure isn't easy," he said, giving me an easy smile.

Butterflies erupted in my stomach again. He just looked like walking sex and all I wanted was to feel his skin against mine again. I took another swig of the bottle sitting on the toolbox next to me.

"So whatcha working on?" He asked me.

"I'm trying to connect all the wires to this one connector. Which isn't as easy as it sounds."

Dean walked around to the far side of the garage, "I bet this would help."

He handed me a long rope of wiring that I could use to lengthen the shorter ones.

"Maybe," I said, slyly.

He gave me a naughty half-smile, like I was testing him.

There was still electricity and pheromones driving us toward each other. And I could tell he was fighting just as hard as I was.

I went back to stripping some of the wiring down.

"Can I ask you something?" He asked.

"You just did," I said being a smartass.

"Ha-ha. Why no condom? Why did you trust me?"

"Because, I have an IUD which is still good for at least another three years if not longer depending on if it still worked while I was dead. Besides, I felt like if you had something, you'd have told me or you would have still gone for it. So, I trusted you to know what to do."

I connected the last wire and moved into the front seat to line up the ignition with the starter.

Dean hadn't said anything.

"Was I right to trust you?"

"I mean, yeah, I'm not diseased or anything. I just don't think anyone has trusted me as easily as you do."

I clicked the ignition into place, "Well, don't forget, I've seen you at your worse. Just as you've seen me at mine. We may not know each other as well as we probably should before having sex, but I trust my instinct with you."

Green tinged the edges of my eyes, I grabbed for the jade on my bracelet but Dean grabbed my wrist at the same time.

 _My grandmother laid in her bed. She was barely awake these days. But I wanted to sit next to her in case she woke up._

" _Jade?"_

" _Gramma, I'm here."_

 _She slowly lifted her left wrist, "My Jade dragon, I want you to have this. It protects us. It will protect you. I'm sorry."_

" _Sorry for what?" I asked_

" _For your sacrifice. For not telling you sooner," she said a tear rolling down her cheek._

" _Gramma, don't cry, I'll be okay. What did you have to tell me?"_

 _But she'd fallen asleep again. This time she didn't wake up. Six hours later she passed._

 _Green._

As I landed back on the Earth, I looked over and realized Dean had followed me into that memory.

He looked at me like I was shattered glass.

"Dean, don't. I'm not broken. I was ready for her death."

"What did she mean by 'your sacrifice'?" He asked.

"I don't know. Maybe because I died so young? Maybe she knew."

I went back to trying to pop the ignition in.

"Hey, Jade, talk to me."

I unfurled myself from the driver's seat. I want really ready for this but I knew he was stubborn.

"What do you want me to say, Dean? I'm just as much in the dark about all this as you are. At least you can remember your past. I can't. I just get flashes like that. Like there's a wall holding all the horrors at bay, and I'm not so sure I want to remember them."

"You want to know my past. Sam got killed. I sold my soul. I got a year. Hellhounds pulled me to Hell. Then there was you. Castiel raised me from Hell. You were the first of 66 seals to be opened. When the last one opened, the apocalypse started. We had to find a way to get Lucifer back in his cage. In order to do that, we discovered we needed the rings of the four horsemen. We also found out that Sam was Lucifer's vessel and I was the archangel Michael's. We were supposed to battle. But I refused to give in. Instead Sam took on Lucifer and fell into the cage with him. Castiel pulled him out without his soul. When we got it back it was so tortured and scarred he wouldn't be able to survive. So Cas took on Sam's scars and battled. At the same time we released Eve, mother of all the monsters."

I tried to focus closely on his words and not his shoulders and tantalizing V sticking out of his jeans.

"To defeat her we had to force her back to Purgatory, where monsters go when they died. But me and Cas fell in the pit with her. For a year we fought until we found a way out. Then we found a prophet that gave us the answer to closing the doors to Hell. Sam ended up being the one to take on the three trials. But the third one would have killed him. In the meantime, Cas battled Metatron who wanted to close the gates of Heaven. When Cas lost the angels fell to Earth. I forced an angel into Sam to save him from death instead of closing the gates of Hell. When we did that we let forth Abaddon, a knight of Hell. And let me tell you she was a bitch."

Dean took a few steps closer to me. He kept his eyes focused on mine.

"In order to kill her I had to take on the Mark of Cain, the mark on your bracelet. It took me over and I couldn't stop it. Metatron tried to kill me, but the mark wouldn't let me die. So I turned into a demon. Sam cured me. But the mark was bloodthirsty. I couldn't control it. Sam went behind my back to find a way to cure it. I went my own way. Asking Death to take me far away from here. But in return he asked that I kill my brother, because he knew Sam would never stop looking for me. I couldn't do it. I stuck the sickle into Death instead who disintegrated. But the mark was removed. The darkness crawled out of the core of the Earth and now we're here."

"Oh and somewhere in there we battled leviathans."

I blinked at him. He spoke for a good three minutes. I was still trying to wrap my head around everything. He just stood there looking at me with his arms crossed.

"Dean...I know there is so much you've been through. And you only proved how wrong I was. You've been through more than one human should ever see. You've cheated death more times than is supposed to be possible. I don't even know where to start…"

"Then don't start anywhere, let our pasts come naturally. Let us figure this out together. How we are intertwined. Why we are. And if that bracelet is the only thing holding back the horrors of Hell then don't take it off until you're ready. And when you do, put it back on when you know you can't take anymore. Your soul has been suffering for over 8400 years. Don't go too fast. Don't break the wall before you're ready," he said caressing my cheek.

He pulled me into a hug and for some reason it was so comforting and I started to cry. For him. For me. For Sam. For everyone. The tears flowed. Seven years of tears. Tears of frustration, of anger, of sadness, of heartbreak, of happiness. Every emotion fell through those tears and I held Dean tighter as I cried. He just stood and held me.

"It'll be okay. We'll figure this out."

I let go and wiped the tears from my eyes. I held a key up to Dean. "Do the honors?"

He took the key and smiled at me. He slid in the driver's seat, giving me a quick kiss as he passed.

"For luck," he said.

I smiled and rolled my eyes at him.

I got in front of the hood. Everything looked like it was in place. I told him to try it.

It cranked. I heard the clicking of the missing battery. I saw the magnet spin but slow.

"It's gonna take more than one crank to get it going. The magnet needs to build up speed," I said when he let go of the key.

He tried again. A crank. A rumble. A click. Nothing.

I looked closely at the alternator.

'C'mon, baby. Again!" I yelled at Dean.

I reached for the car charm on my bracelet.

A crank. A rumble...steady. As if she were ready to get this show on the road.

Dean jumped out of the car and hugged me so hard he lifted me off the ground. His smile was so big. He planted a big kiss on me and returned.

Suddenly, we were hit with the reality that the entire group was standing in the garage. Jess was bouncing up and down and Sam was smiling down at her. Cas had his hand wrapped around Meg's waist.

"Guess it's time to go," Sam said.

I smiled at Dean and put my head against his chest, breathing in his scent.

 **Chapter 20: Sometimes Darkness Will Show You the Light**

We ran back into the rooms and started to gather up everything we could. It would only be a day's drive to Kansas.

The six of us were just throwing things into bags, boxes, whatever we could find. We emptied every drawer checked every room two of three times before throwing everything into the trunk.

I'd never seen people move so fast. I kept a close eye on the engine. This alternator went untested. I'd only gotten it to turn over once, for my senior thesis.

Dean sat in the driver's seat of course. I sat next to Meg and Cas in the back, while Jess and Sam squished in next to Dean.

We pulled out of the garage, and the Impala jumped and shuddered. Dean looked back at me.

"It'll be fine. The magnet needs to determine how fast it needs to spin to generate the correct amount of energy without overspinning," I said, knowing this had to work.

It was still dark as we got started. Everyone was talking to someone, except me. I was still running through the speech Dean gave to me in the garage.

I was finally understanding the seal thing. I died, but still unsure if it was because I needed to be hidden or because Dean would be in Hell soon and they needed that seal broken. Either way, Dean had said 'when an innocent man spills innocent blood…' which would mean he would take up the knife against and innocent soul and spill its blood. Got that. Then Castiel pulled him from Hell but it was too late. The first seal had been broken. I imagined demons opened the other 65 seals.

I looked out the window. The sun was rising. I couldn't remember the last time I'd seen a sunrise. Pink tinged the horizon. Orange faded into purple and blue then all the way to black where there were still stars to be seen. I stared at it in awe. The pink turned into a red as the orange sphere came into view and almost blinded me. The sky faded into lighter and lighter blue as the sun kept rising.

I went back to my thoughts. The key. The key to what. Castiel had said something about if the lock disappeared the key would hold no power so the mark on that pendant would be useless. Dean was the lock holding the darkness back? Was I really on Earth when I had that dream? I must have been down there a couple of days after that dream. Maybe a week before Meg dragged me back to Earth so that was what another four to seven months? But that still didn't make any sense. The mark was supposed to be lock and key, according to Dean's conversation with Death.

"Earth to Jade? Come in Jade?" Dean was speaking to me. It shook me from my thoughts.

The car sounded like it was running fine. So my guess was that I wasn't paying attention to something.

"You okay back there?"

"Yeah, I'm just...daydreaming. Watching the sun come up. I haven't seen one in a long, long time," I said back to the front, "Everything okay up there? No problems?"

Suddenly the whole car was quiet. Everyone was looking out the windows at the sunrise, like they hadn't seen one in a long time. It was probably the first sunrise they'd seen where there was hope on the horizon.

 **Chapter 21: Bang Bang**

I drifted off to sleep. It was dreamless, thank god. I couldn't take another shot of Hell peeking through the wall. I didn't wake until I realized we'd stopped. I was the only one in the car. Everyone else was looting a gas station.

I got out and stretched. It felt like hours since I'd stood. I popped the hood and walked in front. The car was still running. It seemed like everything was still running fine. None of the wires had come loose.

"Jade!" Dean yelled, with a mouthful of twinkie.

He swallowed, "How's she looking?"

"She looks perfect," I said, shutting the hood, "How's the road been?"

"Dead. The Darkness has spread. It looks like the EMP was isolated to that 100 mile radius but everything else, deathheads."

"I imagine the hunters have hunkered down for now."

"Probably. We're gonna end up with a full house if we bring in as many as we can," Dean said.

I popped the trunk and started digging through Dean's bag.

"You realize that's my bag right?" He said with another mouthful of something.

"Yeah, I threw a book in here that I found in my house, I was hoping someone could decipher Greek."

I dug deep and felt the leather bound book and pulled it forward, spilling some of his clothes onto the trunk. I stuffed the clothes back in.

"You know we're only about 200 miles from the bunker. Sam can scan it into the computer and decipher it," he added, trying to be helpful.

"I know. I just wanted to leaf through it. Maybe there's some pictures or symbols or something."

He smiled at me with another mouthful. I gave him a sly smile and rolled my eyes at him. I kissed him on the cheek as he leaned into it. I threw the book into the backseat, where I'd be sitting.

He smacked my ass as I walked toward the gas station, in search of water and food. Sam and Jess were laughing over something down one of the aisle. My mouth was like a desert so I searched out the water. I drank an entire bottle in one shot. I grabbed a red gatorade and a couple of snacks.

Castiel caught me as I walking back out.

"We're going to figure you out."

I smiled at him. It was strange. I knew there were things out there that even hunters didn't know about, but the way Castiel stated that just made me feel like there was a lot of hidden secrets in my family. I just didn't want to turn out to be something they hunted.

"Last call for bathroom breaks," Dean called out to everyone.

I realized that I should probably go. We probably weren't going to stop until we got to the bunker. I stopped at the Impala and threw my snacks on top of the book.

"I'm gonna run to the bathroom really quick," I said to Dean.

I saw a flash in his eyes.

"I'll go with you. Better to be safe than sorry."

Dean followed me around to the bathrooms in the back. Instead of going into the men's room he caught his foot in my door as I started to shut it. He pushed his way through.

"I've missed you," he said, as he had me pinned to the door. His arms caging me in.

He kissed me hard. He grabbed my hands and turned me around, my face against the door, back arched. He held my hands against the small of my back. I let out a hot and bothered moan.

A whisper of fear and excitement slithered quickly through my veins. Adrenaline pushed through.

"Don't move your hands." His voice was deadly serious. I thought about moving them for a second but this was way too much fun to pass up.

He moved his hands under my t-shirt. He fiddled with the button and zipper on my jeans. He pulled down my jeans and underwear in one shot. They stopped just above my knees. He kicked my feet apart.

"Don't. Move."

I let out another filthy moan. This had me in a tizzy. The fear and anticipation mixed with his smell was clouding everything.

I felt his hands leave me as he and I heard his pants unzip. My eyes got big. I saw him tug at himself for a second. Exhilaration geared up in the storm in my head. I heard him spit into his hand and then I felt the stretch of him inside me.

"Oh, fuck, Dean…"

"Shhhh, we don't want to arouse suspicion."

A thought flashed in my head that everyone in that car knew what we were doing. The thought didn't last long. He fisted my hair and pushed me harder against the door, arching my back farther.

"Fuck, Jade, you look good like this," he moaned. He was fucking me hard and fast. I knew neither of us were going to last long

I wanted nothing more than to reach back and touch him. I moved my hand to grab for him and I felt a sharp crack across my ass.

"What did I tell you about your hands?" He said pulling my head back to his to whisper that in my ear.

I put my hand back on my back. Holy fuck this was hot. I didn't think I'd be into something like this but fuck he made this so much fun. I could feel the heat building between us. I felt his hand come up under my shirt and he started grabbing and swiping at my tits. Moving upward to wrap his hand lightly at my throat.

"Fuck, Dean, please…" I begged.

"We don't always get what we want," he said pulling my head back, forcing my back into an almost painful arch. Painful for only a second when he reached that spot with his cock.

"You're gonna beg for it, baby…" he said with a devilish tone.

I could feel him hitching up. Moving faster. I felt him pulse. I heard his breath holding as he picked up the pace.

"Please, D...can I?..."

"Come on baby, beg for it," his mouth whispered into my ear.

I was clenching hard. I wasn't going to last much longer. White hot lightning was flashing through every nerve. His hands across my chest, the arch in my back, the feel of his cock deep inside me. I was losing ground fast.

"Please, Dean! I have to…I need to…"

He must have sensed I was too close to the edge.

"Okay, baby, come for me...come hard for me…"

My head exploded as he hit that spot right on and the hand around my neck tightened. Just enough to send the adrenaline and my orgasm spreading through me like I'd been hit by a lightning bolt.

"DEAN! FUCK...Oh god…"

I heard his breath hitch and I could feel him pull me closer to him as his cock throbbed inside me.

"Fuck, Jade, Jesus…"

He let me go and I turned to face him, knees shaking, using the door he'd had me against as leverage to keep standing. His hands were caging me in as he tried to hold himself up.

He looked up at me and gave me a naughty smile. He pulled me close and kissed me. He pulled away before I could kiss him back. He got redressed and as he left he said, "Better hurry before they get suspicious of what you're doing in here."

The door shut and I leaned against it and took a deep breath. I pulled up my jeans and straightened out my shirt.

"Fuck," I said to no one. Reveling in what the fuck just happened to me.

I heard a noise that made me jump.

Bang. Bang.

 **Chapter 22: No Mercy from the Edge of the Blade**

I quietly opened the door and stayed low. I heard voices.

I hunkered down behind the dumpster.

I saw Jess, Sam, and Dean on their knees with their hands behind their heads.

"Now that you're special friends are gone, you've got no one to save you," the voice almost slithered.

I couldn't see Meg or Castiel from where I was. I looked at the back of the Impala. All the guns, weapons, knives, my bow were sitting in the trunk.

"Fuck," I whispered.

What did I have? I looked around. I found a metal pipe. Well it was better than nothing.

I climbed the ladder to the top of the building and peeked just over the edge. Castiel and Meg were lying face down on the ground not moving.

My heart sunk. How did they kill a demon and an angel with a shotgun. I looked around. I saw only two guns. Five people, or monsters or whatever. I couldn't tell what they were from here.

A handgun was in the hand of the one facing the three kneeling. He had it flush against Sam's head.

I heard Dean talking to Sam. Jess was crying.

I had to move fast. The bracelet. I'd forgotten about it until now.

I jumped down just before I heard the blast of the handgun go off. I squeezed the jade pendant and a green flash appeared around the six of us. It was like a dome barrier. As soon as one of the monsters tried to get closer they just ended up being pushed back about five feet.

I pulled the sickle out of the bracelet, dropped the bracelet next to Dean and walked out of green dome. I heard Jess yell "vamps". At least they'd be safe behind the barrier.

Vamps. Heads. I took the sickle in my hand. I saw a smile with rows of teeth. Like a shark. He was fast. But my sickle caught his head. It rolled off into the dirt, still smiling. The four others came at me. I heard the shotgun blast. I saw the green tint the edge of my eyes.

 _Green._

" _What do you mean it won't come off?" This voice was British._

" _We have tried everything we know to remove it. It won't come off. But it doesn't seem to be doing anything. She's still responding to torture."_

" _What about the gun?"_

" _The colt?"_

" _What other gun did you think I was talking about?"_

" _There's only one bullet left. You want to waste it on a chance that bracelet might come off? Sir, with all due respect, it's not affecting anything."_

" _Anything that we know of," British said, "If something does happen, it'll be your head. And Alastair's."_

" _Yes, sir."_

 _Green._

The time stop was just enough for me to jump into a spin and slice through four heads all at once. The shot landed right through my right calf. And when I landed I screamed. My leg gave out from under me.

Dean and Jess ran to me. I saw Sam move quickly to Meg and Cas. I saw him draw something in the sand and I watched as blue smoke flow into Castiel's lifeless body and his chest rose. Then he drew something at Meg's feet and black smoke rose up and I watched as Meg began to breathe.

I couldn't pay attention to Sam anymore because the pain was searing through my leg.

"You could have died. Why would you do that?" Dean said, more concerned than angry, handing me my bracelet.

"Because someone had to save your ass again," I said sticking my tongue out at him.

He smiled and Jess returned with a first aid kit.

"This isn't gonna be fun. I have to pull out all the buckshot. You're lucky you only caught the edge. Looks like about six or seven shots," Dean said.

The first three were the most painful. I screamed as each one was dug out, alcohol thrown on top and then a bandage. By the last four, I was barely even conscious.

"Jade, stay with us," I heard Jess say.

"How'd Sam do that?" I asked, feeling my head swoon as Dean pulled another shot out.

"We figured that someone would figure out that we had supernatural help so we found a spell that removed their souls from their bodies, making them look dead. Say the second half of the spell and symbol and their souls get pulled from the Earth back into their bodies," Jess explained, holding my hands.

"One more Jade. Hang in there."

I moaned when Dean stuck the tweezers back in to pull the last shot out.

My head swooned again.

"You know someday you're gonna have to let me save your ass," Dean said, smiling.

I smiled back but I knew I was losing ground fast. I felt a bandage go around and around my calf.

"Sam! Help me get her to the car," Dean yelled. I saw him move the book but I reached for it. Even if I was unconscious I still wanted it.

"Okay, okay. Let me get you settled and you can have it back." I felt him pull the seatbelt across me and buckle me in. I felt him put the book in my lap and my hands across it. He threw his leather coat from the trunk over me. The warmth and the scent calmed me, and I felt my head giving way.

"Hurry home, Dean," I said.

My eyes were closed. I felt the car sink as everyone piled in. A last thought crossed my mind.

I think I love him.

 **Chapter 23: Still Dancing with Your Demons**

" _Clotho, Jade Moira."_

 _I stepped forward, wringing my hands. I could hear screams all around me, but I saw nothing but the orange glow of fire far away._

" _You have been sentenced to Hell."_

 _He snapped his fingers and a demon appeared at my side, pulling me to the left._

" _FOR WHAT?" I screamed back at the demon that had sentenced me._

" _What?" The demon looked at me._

" _Everyone else was read a list of their sins and was sentenced. You didn't tell me my sins."_

 _The demon turned to smoke and came within inches of my face._

" _And who do you think you are? You have been sentenced. It doesn't matter your transgression. Take her."_

 _As the demon pulled me I heard laughter coming deep from within the fire._

 _Both demons winced when they heard it._

 _The demon threw me into a room. It was small. Stone covered. Chains against the wall._

 _It wasn't long before a shadowy creature came into my room. It's cold hand touched my wrist and I was transported to a cold metal bed. I heard a cold metal chair scrape up to the bed._

" _Well, you're going to be a fun one."_

" _Hahahahahahaha," my voice echoed off the room. I wriggled against the cold table. I heard bone bounce off the metal, "Well you certainly aren't the same torturer as I had before. What is this amateur hour?"_

" _Bold words coming from a pile of bones lying on a table."_

" _See instead of letting me continue on, you would have cut out my voice box, or pulled my teeth out one by one. Or if you were in a really pissy mood you'd have just cut my tongue right off."_

" _Enough!"_

" _Uh oh...you're in troub-" bindings covered my mouth._

 _I watched as Alastair slithered down the stairs to my table._

" _Go," he said sternly to the demon who was trying torture me._

" _You've gotten feisty. You've been down here for almost 8000 years in Hell time. That's quite a bit of time. By now most would have gotten off this table. They certainly wouldn't have the fire of a thousand suns burning through them."_

 _I'd bitten down on my tongue, tasting the blood run down my throat. I knew he'd release my bindings. He'd want an answer._

 _I felt the binding around my mouth let go. I spit the blood I'd been holding at him. He smoked out before it could hit him. When he came back into human form, he had an evil smile that spread across his face._

" _Well since he wasn't up to your liking. We'll see if you like the next one tomorrow." He snapped his fingers and I was back on the cold stone floor of my cell._

 _The ground shook. Then it was quiet. I laid my head against the wall and began to drift off to sleep._

I woke with a start. I looked around. Nothing was familiar. The little light in the room shone on a metal pole with bags hanging off and an IV in my arm. I yanked it out and found a bandage to stop the bleeding. I got up and felt searing pain run up my right leg. My leg didn't give out but it forced me to limp. I got to the door. It felt like a weird cellar. I heard voices to my left so I headed that way. There were so many hallways, it felt like a labyrinth.

As I kept walking, I walked into someone unfamiliar to me. He was slightly taller than me. He had a big, bushy beard making him look like a lumberjack.

His voice was deep, but calm as he spoke to me, like he didn't want to spook me,"My name's Henry. You must be Jade. Are you looking for Dean?"

I nodded. He wrapped himself under my shoulder, helping me limp along.

He told me about the few other hunters that had made it to the bunker. They were all putting their collective minds together to figure out how to blow the darkness out of the water. So far all they knew was it was black smoke that just passed from town to town, pulling bodies back from Hell and releasing monsters from Purgatory.

We turned a corner and I saw a big library like room. Long wooden tables. Lots of people sitting around them, some with beers in hand, some with their noses in books.

Dean glowed out of the bunch, like a beacon in the dark. I smiled.

"Dean!" Henry called out to him.

Everyone turned to look at us, I blushed at suddenly having the spotlight on me.

"Jade! How did you-" He moved fast from the middle table and took my shoulder from Henry.

"Thanks," I said to the lumberjack.

"No worries," he said heading for a beer at the table.

"You shouldn't be out of bed-"

"How long have I been out for?" I asked.

"About a week."

Dread passed over me. Ice ran through my veins and I could feel the blood drain from my face.

Remembering the dreams I had while I was out. Two short dreams. What would feel like a few hours in Hell, would be a week here. My mind started to flash at a million miles an hour. No. I couldn't be trapped in Hell. This couldn't be an elaborate torture ruse, it was way too real. I wanted it to be way too real.

Alastair's words rang through my head, "Maybe you'll like the next one tomorrow."

Dean must have seen the fear on my face. He sat me down at an island in the kitchen.

"Jade? Stay with me. What's going on in your head? I can't help you if I don't tell me."

I told him what I had seen while I was out. What Alastair had said. The fear I had. He turned my chin towards him and gave me a sweet kiss.

"This is real. This IS real, Jade."

I wanted to believe him, but I'd been here before. I'd heard those exact words before.

"I'm starving," realizing that I hadn't eaten in a long, long time.

"Jess had you hooked up to IV feeding after a few days. You had me scared you weren't going to come out of it. But I'm glad you're awake," he said flipping over a grilled cheese.

I smiled when he put it in front of me. I ate like I hadn't tasted food in months.

"I had Sam translate your book, but to be honest, there really wasn't much in there. It was a book about the different types of Greek gods, the Fates, and their monsters," Dean said, "But there was this…"

He put a picture in place of the plate.

It was the mark from my jade pendant. The Mark of Cain.

 **Chapter 24: Tragic Fate**

Dean helped me down to the table where now it was just the six of us. Sam and Jess were ticking away at computers. Meg and Castiel were having a conversation between themselves.

Dean pulled out a chair and put the original book in front of me along with the translated version.

"Good to see you up," Jess said, "How's the leg?"

"Sore but I can walk on it."

I realized Sam had headphones on so I left him alone for now.

I leafed through a couple of pages of the book. A picture fell out of it. It was a picture of the Mark of Cain.

I read the story of Thanatos and Hypnos. Twin brothers. Death and Sleep. A few pages later, I came across the same picture Dean had shown me. I could feel my brows furrow.

"Guys?" I asked.

Everyone turned to me. Jess slugged Sam on the shoulder. Meg and Cas broke their stare.

"These aren't the same mark. They're extremely close. But look…" I placed the picture of the Mark of Cain under the picture of the Mark that was on my bracelet. They matched perfectly except for two small vertical marks next to the bottom of the mark. It was the Mark of Hypnos.

"Jade can we have your bracelet for a moment," Castiel asked.

I took it off and gave it to him.

 _The ground shook. I cowered in the corner of my cell. I heard a laugh deep from within the ground. The same laugh I'd heard the first night I'd gotten here._

 _I covered my ears. The muscles around my hand were still regrowing._

 _The door to my cell burst open and in it stood a shadow of a man, floating above the ground. His eyes glowed green._

" _Thank you," I heard inside my head. Then he disappeared._

I woke with my head on the table. I felt woozy. My bracelet was back on my wrist.

"You okay?" Dean looked at me worried.

"Yeah, just Hell."

"Well we took pictures of all your charms so we won't have to take that off again unless you want to."

I realized it was just me and Dean.

"Where is…"

"Cas took picture of that pendant to Metatron. Sam and Jess went to bed. They've been working on deciphering a code that was written in the book. It's not going well. And Meg took the picture of the ruby in the cage to a demon friend."

"Oh. So it's just us?"

"A about ten hunters in bed."

He leaned against the hall frame, studying me from the top of the two stairs.

"Is my bag in your room?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Because my grandmother's journals are in there. I wanted to read them. Maybe she knew something."

"Ok, c'mon. Let me help you."

Dean helped me limp back to the room. He helped me get situated on the bed and moved the IV pole out of the way. He gave me the two journals I'd pulled from my house. I leafed through one for about half a second.

"Can I ask you something?" I asked.

"You already did," he said sticking his tongue out at me the same way I did what felt like a millenia ago.

"Funny," I said giving him a half-glare.

"Do you know the story of the 'twin flames'?"

"Sort of. It's more of a myth. Supposedly, every human was born of the thread of the sisters of Fate. That thread is split in two at birth and is transferred to someone else. When twin souls or flames meet, they're supposed to intertwine and create a power stronger than a thousand white hot suns. Their lives are supposed to follow a similar path. It's a greek and roman legend. They said that it didn't necessarily mean romantic. Could be platonic or familial. Why this story?"

I turned the cover of the greek book toward him. The old leather etched into the book held the picture. It was a picture of two fires, mingling into a spire near the top.

"You think the myth of twin flames plays into this?"

"I don't know yet, I haven't read the whole thing. But so far it seems like it follows the life of Thanatos and Hypnos. They were twin flame brothers and twins. Maybe there's something else to it. Myths are always based on some sort of truth. You of all people should know that."

Dean took a cautious, unsure breath, "Look, we've just gotten a hold on the Darkness and where she's headed."

"She?"

"Yeah she's taken a corporeal form now. Hasn't stopped her rampage. So how 'bout we put the research down for the night. We can take a hard look at what myth that book has and I'll pull out whatever else I can find out about it in the library."

"Ok," I wasn't going to argue.

"Can I ask you about when the Mark resurrected you?" I asked, nervous.

Dean reached for his right forearm. I reached out to him. I rolled up the sleeve on his button down.

I kissed the spot he always held.

"It's not coming back, Dean. If it does, we'll fight it together."

He held my head against his stomach and gave me a light squeeze.

"What did you wanna know," he said, sounding like it hurt to say.

"If it's too much to bear, I don't have to-"

"No. It's fine. Ask away."

"What were you like during that time?"

"As a demon?" He asked me with raised eyebrows and a smile on his face, "It was like knowing you could do whatever you wanted and the consequences didn't matter. So I'd piss people off just for the hell of it. It was like having no inhibition. No conscious to tell you to stop or that it was bad. I just did whatever I felt like at the moment. I remember spitting in Crowley's face just because I didn't like what he'd said to me. And there was nothing he could do to stop me. Does that answer your question."

"Yeah…" My mind drifted away from Dean. They'd been in the restaurant for at least four months up to about 7 months. Just before that is when Alastair has said I'd been getting "feisty." Torture meant nothing to me. I don't even remember feeling during that time period before that. Was it possible…

"Hey. No more thinking. You still need rest."

"I want to fight."

"I know you do. But until that leg heals, you won't be much of a fighter. Besides, you're already a pretty good hunter for only being at this a month. Besides I have something that'll take your mind off of everything."

His green eyes flashed.

 **Chapter 25: I Can Send You Into Overdrive**

He stalked me onto the bed. I watched as his shoulders moved stealthily. Like a lion hunting a gazelle.

His pupils were blown open. There was a hunger in his eyes I hadn't seen before. He crawled up to the side of me and licked a stripe up the side of my neck. My eyes rolled into my head.

There was that growing fire again. His scent, the heat exuding off of us, the clench in my stomach. I pulled him by his collar into a kiss, unbuttoning his shirt as fast as my fumbling fingers would let me. I pulled him out of his tank top once I got that shirt off.

"Well, that's not fair…" he said, voice sultry.

The small light in the room was illuminating the shadows on his face and chest. I reveled in his physique. I had a thing for shoulders and that naughty little V of his. He pulled my legs gently so that I was laying on the bed. He pulled the pajama pants, which I had no idea how I'd gotten into, off me. My right leg still had bandages around it. He followed the line of my leg up to where my shirt ended and pulled that off me.

"Dean…"

"Mmmm...you look so good. Good enough to eat," he said taking a little bite into my stomach.

I squirmed, trying not to be too loud, letting out a little laugh.

There was a lull in our voices and we could hear noises from the room over. Dean's eyes flashed darker. There was no doubt in my mind that was Sam's voice.

I looked back to Dean he had an evil smile on his face and I could feel my eyes flash back in a competitive fury.

I could be loud when I wanted to.

I swung my legs over the edge of the bed. I pulled Dean from the other side of me until he was standing in front of me. My face was inches from his hard cock which I could see even in the dull light.

I ran my hand up his jeans and I heard him moan, a little more loudly than I expected. I ran my hand along him slowly and his head tilted back and he moaned out my name that sent my mind into lizard brain.

My other hand followed him up to the top of jeans and unbuttoned and zipped him down. I grabbed his underwear and pulled them all off in one motion. I heard the metal of his belt hit the floor. He didn't move.

I kissed around his belly button. I pushed my thumbs into his hips as I held him steady. He smelled like soap. I licked a stripe from under his cock all the way to the top of his head. His hand grabbed my hair. He grated out a moan.

"Fuck, you taste so fucking good, baby," I moaned as my lips caressed his head.

His head rolled back and he let out another long, loud, sinful moan.

"I want your mouth...I want your whole mouth," he ground out.

The both of us heard a long, deep moan come from Sam's room. So I upped the ante. I took Dean all the way down, dropping my jaw and swirling my tongue as I went. The loud, filthy growl that came out gave me a naughty smile. I did it again and heard another growl as he twisted my hair tighter. Sam let out what sounded like a similar growl and I felt I was in a battle with Jess. She would lose.

I wrapped my hand around the base of his cock and started to drive my mouth on him faster. My hand and mouth worked together. His moans got louder and louder until he pulled my hair up so that I faced him. He planted a kiss on me. He tossed me backwards onto the bed and stalked me again.

"It's your turn baby. I'm going to make you beg for me."

I could hear Jess' muffled moans and screams coming from the room. Dean decided it was my turn to play the devil's advocate.

He nipped and licked his way down to my stomach, hands feeling up my tits. He made little bites that would make me jump and moan little screams of surprise. He slowed as he got to my belly button.

More screams and moans coming from the room next to us. This time it sounded like Jess and Sam's voices mingled. Either they had a head start or they were moving faster than us.

Dean was too focused on me and once his tongue hit my clit, I lost all focus, My mind turned to mush. My breathing quickened. I grabbed Dean's hair.

"Ahh, Dean…"

"Oh baby, you are just so sweet…"

He just kept his tongue moving. Then he stopped for just a moment. I heard a pop like lollipop. Suddenly, my pussy clenched and I let out the filthiest sound.

"Fuck Dean...ohmygod…"

He had two fingers inside me and his tongue was playing with me. Teasing me. I felt him go lower and I could feel his tongue sliding in between his fingers.

Somewhere in the background I heard what sounded like muffled screams.

But I drowned them out with mine.

"Dean...need you...please…" I moaned pulling on his hair.

He kept pushing his tongue on my clit and mingling it with the fingers inside me.

"I wanna hear you beg for it…"

"Dean…God Dean, please… " I was pleading. I knew I wouldn't hold out much longer if he kept this up.

"Please what baby? What do you want from me?" His mouth had moved from my pussy to my ear.

"F-FUCK ME! Please Dean I need your cock," I cried out, on the verge of losing it.

He pulled his fingers out of me quickly. I yelped at the sudden loss of him. I squirmed.

"Is that what you want?" He moaned just as desperate as me. He kissed me as he pushed all in in one shot.

"Fuck...Jade…"

"Oh fuck…"

Just when what was left of my brain didn't think this could get any better, he pulled me upward so we were both kneeling with my knees wrapped around him.

"FUCK!" I screamed, brain dead, seeing spots. He was in me so deep and I could feel all of him.

He kissed my neck and I held his head and looked deep into his eyes. Blown wide with lust, the green dancing just around the edges. I left little bite on his ear.

I moved in tandem with him. He let out what sounded like a lion's roar and I could feel the pulse inside me and as his stomach muscles contracted.

"Oh God, oh fuck, Jade!"

I don't think he was expecting to come that fast. His head fell onto my shoulder and he left little bites and kisses. He stayed in tandem with me and I wasn't far behind him. As deep inside me as he was he hit that sweet spot every time.

"Dean...fuck...I'm gonna...please…"

"Come on baby...come for me…"

I came undone. I felt the spasms in my stomach. I felt my pussy clench and release around him. I felt my brain lose whatever few cells were left somewhere along the way.

He held me close until my brain returned to its correct anatomical position in my body. He fell backward so we were facing the wrong way on the bed.

Sam's room was quiet too.

I looked at him.

"We so won."

He laughed and pulled me so that my head was laying on his chest and his arm was around me. I listened to his heartbeat. I felt our breathing slow together. I felt tired for the first time in a long time. I felt tired and unafraid of the sleep that came with it.

But as I layed and stared at the picture frames on the dresser that was farthest from me, I heard him. I heard him say it. Out loud.

"I think I love you."

 **Chapter 26: Set Fire to the Rain**

I sat up on my arm.

"What?" I asked, I was trying not to show judgment on my face, but I highly doubted I succeeded. I know that it had to be surprise plastered on my face.

He sat up on one elbow and faced me.

"I know it sounds fast and weird and maybe I should have kept my mouth shut but…" he paused like he was unsure of saying it again. Like I was going to run off screaming if he did.

"I think I love you."

My mouth opened and shut. I remembered the moment that same thought crossed my mind. I didn't have time to dwell on it. I passed out from the buckshot in my leg. But now, now I had to think about it.

Was this just the lust talking? Or were our lives more intertwined than we thought? I didn't believe in destiny but fate was apparently a real thing. Was this just the rush of love hormones rushing through us?

He looked scared and I realized I hadn't said anything back yet.

"Before I say anything, how long have you thought this?"

"When I thought that vamp had shot you. I thought he'd caught you in the chest and I suddenly realized how much I didn't want my life without you in it."

I laughed. He got a sullen, sad look on his face.

"I'm not laughing at you. I'm laughing because it's the same moment I thought that too. Just before I passed out in the car. I didn't have time to think on it and then there was all this going on tonight and I just...I think I love you too."

He smiled. His eyes lit up a green like I'd never seen. They glowed in the darkness of the room. He rolled over and kissed me and I giggled at him.

"Dean...the reason I asked you about twin flames was because I think our lives are intertwined more than we think. I think something else is pulling the strings. We may make our own choices but our lives at times have crossed paths whether we realized it or not."

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"Well, for starters, when you turned demon, I was still in Hell. Except something was different. I didn't feel pain the way I did before. And while I had been used to shutting up just so they wouldn't cut my tongue out, I was mouthing off. I spit blood at Alastair…"

His eyebrows sprang up and he let out a small laugh.

"What were you asking for extra torture?"

"No...it's like you explained. I just didn't care. My conscious just disappeared."

Dean threw my pajama pants and shirt at me. While he got dressed. I didn't move until he was fully clothed. I couldn't help it.

I got dressed. I heard him start to speak and then I heard something slap the hardwood floor.

"Dean? What? What happened?"

He was holding what looked like a picture. He turned it to me.

"It's a picture of my gram when she was in her early twenties. It's my favorite picture. Did it fall out of her journal?" I asked.

"What was her name?" He asked ignoring my question, his eyes glazed over.

"Tessa. Why?"

"She was my reaper…" He said slowly.

He picked up her journal and started reading. I grabbed her second one. There were stories about her close calls with death. But that's not what she called them. She called them meetings. She never explained why they were called that other than details were ironed out. Dean pointed out some of the same things in her first journal.

The last page had a code written on it. Dean tilted his head at it.

"It's the codex. It breaks the code that's in that leather bound book. Fuck."

He moved fast, scrambling to the door. He slid in front of Sam's door and started banging on it.

"Sammy! Wake up!"

I heard a bear yawn and feet pad their way to the door. I heard the lock unclick.

"Jesus, Dean, it's four in the morning. Shouldn't you be sleeping…" He added with a twinge of sass in his voice. I blushed. Dean didn't have time for it.

"The codex. For the leather bound book. I found it."

"What do you mean you found it?" Sam took the journal and looked at it.

"Well shit." Sam closed the door quietly behind him, leaving Jess to sleep. The three of us walked back out to the library. Dean switched on the lights and we all were stunned for a second.

"Jade can you make some coffee, I'm gonna pull some books and files," Dean asked me.

"Sure." I yawned. I didn't know why this couldn't wait until actual morning.

I brought three cups into the library and poured.

Sam thanked me. I called to Dean to tell him there was coffee. I heard him yell something I couldn't understand from far away.

I sat next to Sam. He had the original code from the book into his computer. It was running multiple different codes to try and break it.

"Why is this code so important?" I asked.

"Because of these four symbols," he pointed to a triangle of symbols, with one in the middle, "this one we know is the Mark of Cain. This one the Mark of Hypnos."

"And the other two?"

"Well this one matches the mark on the cover of the book." Sam said.

"The myth of the twin flames." I said.

"What?"

"Oh...I...um asked Dean the myth of the twin flames. Thanatos and Hypnos were twin brothers but also twin flames. I thought that's what the mark on the front might mean. To me it looks like two fires that intertwine at the top forming a spire."

"How did you know that?" Sam asked, confusion marked his eyes.

"I-I don't know." I sat back in the chair realizing that I had no idea why I knew the part of the story Dean didn't tell me. Did my grandmother tell me that story when I was a kid?

"This last symbol," Sam started, "is the symbol for The Darkness. Those three symbols enclose the darkness. So we were thinking there was something to tell us about her in here."

Sam ticked away at his computer typing the codex into the computer. Dean came back with an armful of greek myth books and a couple of folders.

"Sam, her grandmother was Tessa."

"The reaper?!"

"The same."

"What does that mean?" I asked.

"I don't really believe in coincidence so my guess is it has something to do with both of you." Sam said still ticking.

"Look, Dean. This is still going to take a few hours to decode. And until it does we aren't going to be able to discover anything we don't already know. How bout a few hours of sleep?" Sam asked, yawning hard.

"Yeah...yeah you're probably right." Dean added.

I followed him back to the bedroom.

"I'm going to use the bathroom. I'll be right back." I said, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek.

He gave me a sleepy smile.

I took a deep breath as I looked into the mirror of the bathroom. I took my bracelet off and barricaded the door. Something was hiding in my time in Hell. And I had to know what it was.

 **Chapter 27: Touch the Edge of Death**

I looked at the bracelet on the floor. I waited for the visions to start. I closed my eyes and listened to the sounds of fire in my ears. I opened my eyes expecting to see Hell. Instead I saw a tall, black woman with very curly hair.

"Quite a mess you've made. You want to go back to Hell that badly?"

"Who are you?"

"I'm a reaper. Name's Billie," she said to me.

"You're a reaper? Did you know my grandmother? Her name was Tessa."

"Yeah we all knew her. She died when Death died. Part of her deal."

"What deal?" I asked, my head felt woozy, "And why are you here?"

Billie rolled her eyes and pulled me up off the floor. I looked down and saw myself lying on the floor. Foam was coming out of my mouth. My eyes were closed. I could hear my heartbeat slowing in my head.

"Look, girl, I don't know what deal your family had worked out with Death. I know you were a sacrifice for something. I know I wasn't supposed to come get you until everything was settled, but you've put me in a hard position. You chose this way to go, it wasn't forced upon you."

I felt us float out into the hallway where Meg and Dean were trying to break the bathroom door down. Dean was screaming for Sam to get the adrenaline. He kept telling me to hold on. Tears streaked his eyes.

What had I done?

"You took that bottle of pills spilled on the floor. When you took that bracelet off, you may not remember it but your scarred soul couldn't take it," Billie said, watching with mild curiosity.

I closed my eyes. I remembered some of that. I remember feeling like my entire body was on fire. I remember seeing monsters that were unforgiving to those I'd already met and learned about. I remember the knife. I remember it was always the same knife but this one shone blue.

"It was a soul knife. I didn't just cut you and your muscles and your body, it cut your soul. It could steal all of your happiest memories. Which is why you don't remember much before your accident. It would steal them and show you them and then tear them up piece by piece until your soul no longer had that piece. Nothing but a scar where it belonged. But scars like that don't heal, they fester and bleed, they hurt," Billie said.

I remember climbing up to the bathroom mirror digging through all the bottles of pills until I found the sedatives. I don't know how many I took but I know the bottle was mostly full. There were only a few pills on the floor.

I remember death. I remember reaching out. I remember touching the edge of death. Feeling the peace behind it. I remember stepping to the edge of cliff and knowing there'd be nothing but peace and darkness.

"Are you really ready to give up? Because when it comes to the Winchester's I'm done playing their games. But I also realize if The Darkness wins, we all lose. That bracelet doesn't protect your mind from Hell. It protects your mind from the pain of the scars left behind. That was its purpose. For you, I'll make one, ONE, exception. But, fail again and I will reap you. And the sickle you hold? It was your grandmother's."

I saw her disappear in a flash of light, I saw Dean stab a needle straight through my heart and I felt myself sucked back into my body and air screamed through my lungs like I had been drowning. I felt Dean pull me into a deep hug

"Oh god, Jade...Jade…"

I could see Meg behind him, breathing deeply. I saw Sam and Jess holding tight to each other.

I coughed, coughing up more foam and pills. I felt my stomach lurch. I turned for the toilet and retched up a whole group of pills. Three more times before my stomach had had enough. I sat against the shower. Dean refused to leave. He sent Meg to get a cup of water.

I didn't realize when Sam and Jess left but they were gone.

My voice was weak, rough, "I'm sorry. I didn't want to die. I didn't-"

I knew he wanted to scream at me. I knew he wanted to yell. I could see it on his face. I flinched away.

"Then tell me what happened," he said, quietly after he'd taken a breath.

Meg returned with water and then quickly disappeared. I drank a little bit and Dean scooped me up off the floor. I nuzzled my face into his neck and he laid me down on the bed.

I was tired. Even though they'd pumped my heart full of adrenaline, my body was tired.

I told him everything. The bracelet. The reaper. The knife. What the bracelet protected me from. Why I took the pills. The fact that I didn't remember taking the pills. It spilled out of me like my tongue was on speed.

He held me. He just listened. He didn't say anything. He just let me talk until I was finished. He held me close. Under his arm, against his chest, listening to his heart beat. Then he spoke.

"Everyone in this bunker has touched the very edge of death. Most of us, have walked with Death, only to find our way back to this Earth. Our fight, your fight isn't over yet. So don't give up on me now."

I started to cry into his shirt.

"I'm sorry, Dean, I didn't want to die, I just didn't want to feel the pain anymore."

"Then until we figure out a way to fix you, this," he said lifting my left wrist, "stays on."

I cried more remembering what Billie had said about everything. I heard Dean shush me every so often and stroke my hair. I remember feeling him leave a kiss on my head. Then I remember sleep.

 **Chapter 28: When I Feel the Snake Bite**

When I woke, Dean wasn't in the room. I didn't really expect him to be. I looked at the clock as I put on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. 2:00 pm.

"Jesus," I said to the clock. My stomach clenched and I felt every muscle scream in agony. My mind flashed through what happened last night.

I opened the door and started to walk toward the library. I heard a voice. A voice that stopped me in my tracks. My blood ran cold.

"...you want the most useful torture tool Hell has ever had. In fact, something I think Lucifer and Alastair dreamed up one drunk night? Why would I ever give you that?"

His voice. British. He was in a memory. The colt. Saying it would be Alastair's head if my bracelet was dangerous.

I slipped quietly back to the bedroom. I quickly carved a Devil's trap into my arrows. I snuck back out. I didn't know where he was so I wouldn't have a lot of time to aim. I turned and aimed at the only one who I didn't know in the room. I felt the shot leave my fingers. But it hung in mid-air. Everyone behind him, Dean, Jess, Sam, were frozen in time.

British in a black coat, turned and walked toward me. He was a little taller than me. Scruffy.

"Good shot, but I'm better," he said flicking away the arrow as it hung in space, "So you're bracelet girl. You know we tried years to get that off of you. We broke every bone in your hand. We looked for the curse that caused it but it went back far. Mark of Cain far."

I stood paralyzed with fear.

"Crowley's the name. King of Hell. Took over after Lucifer decided to go all nuclear and start the apocalypse," he said, extending a hand.

Manners wanted to shake his hand. Fear refused to let me.

"I-I remember you. You wanted to use the colt to break it."

He raised an eyebrow at me.

"Probably should have seeing how much damage you and that little bracelet have caused me. Let's have a seat and let everyone catch you up on what they've learned so far," He grabbed me by my elbow and sat me next to Dean. I realized that Cas and Meg were both back, Meg looking a little worse for wear.

Time restarted and I heard my bow hit the floor in the doorway. Everyone looked around.

"What did you do Crowley?" Dean demanded.

"Me? Why is it always me? It was your girl here who started it. She shot a devil's trap arrow at me."

"Yeah, well wouldn't we all like to do that?" Sam said.

"Moose, you'll hurt my feelings," Crowley said, feigning hurt.

"Alright I don't wanna hang out in...whatever this place is all day, especially when your friends come home. So I'll tell you what each charm means on that bracelet. Beyond that, I don't know whatever pact Death made with Hypnos or Tessa or the Fates. That's what you're for Moose."

He ghosted over to me and put my left arm on the table.

"I'm not gonna dignify the car charm with an answer, so moving on, the ruby in the cage. It represents Lucifer in his cage. He's in on this deal somehow considering that the lock and key were split. They used to be one, now they're two. What it does, I have no idea. Squeeze it and find out."

Sam pursed his lips. Fear glazed the edge of his eyes.

"The sickle I believe you already found out what it was for. The jade pendant is that which hold the pain of Hell at bay. It's a protection spell. And a very old, very strong one. The symbol on it used to be the key to the Darkness' lock. The clock represents Hypnos, another key player in this whole soap opera you've all stumbled into. The gold spool, represents a Fate. The fate that pulled life from her spool, for every person. Your last charm, the twin suns, twin flames, soulmates, whatever you wanna call it. I know that there have only been a handful of true twin flames in all of eternity. God and the Darkness. Death and Hypnos. Death and Fate. A few others. It happened when fate cut the thread, it began to separate. Their lives still intertwined from time to time. They didn't always start out knowing they were intertwined. But the moments they did, their power was almost unstoppable," he finally stopped talking.

Everyone was staring either at the bracelet or at the pictures of the bracelet.

"As for your request, Dean, I will give it to you. But not until you absolutely need it. Laters."

"And how the hell-god dammit." Crowley had disappeared in a flash of smoke.

Everyone took a deep breath. Dean rubbed his face in his hands. Sam clicked at something on his computer and his head popped up.

"It got it. We got the code," he said, with a small smile, turning the computer to me and Dean.

Sam let it uncode the whole thing which only took a few minutes. Everyone sat in silence. It was a tense few minutes.

Jess piped up first.

"Did you really try to shoot, Crowley," she asked with a smile.

"Yeah he stopped time and grabbed the arrow out of the air."

"British bastard. Never fights fair," Dean said.

Everyone laughed. I looked over to see Cas fussing with Meg. She got up and stormed off. Something was wrong. Something had happened. Cas sat in Meg's seat.

I got up and followed Meg. She took a left, away from Sam and Dean's bedrooms. I knocked on the door.

"Nope."

"Meg, come on. It's my turn to help you."

"Fuck." I heard feet cross the room and the lock click.

I peered in. She was sitting in the middle of the bed. Tears running down her face.

"You know for a demon, you have some heavy duty humanity in you. So you wanna tell me what's wrong."

"No. But you're not going to go away until I do."

I smiled.

"The demon I went to see. He turned on me. He turned me into Crowley. I was stuck in one of those Hell boxes like you, while they figured out what to do with me. Long story short, in order to keep me from going back Cas made a devil's deal to keep me here."

"What kind of deal?"

"When this is all over, the darkness either gets put in her place or we all get killed. If the darkness gets put back in her box, Castiel gives up his grace and I am no longer a demon. We become human."

"Well, what's so wrong with being human?" I asked.

"For one, you get sick, you die, you have no fun powers."

"Death isn't goodbye Meg. I think we've all learned that. And who knows. Maybe Cas will carve out a space in Heaven for you…"

She smiled and threw a pillow at me.

"You have the humanity already. So you lose your powers. You'll find some new ones. Learn to hunt. If you wanted. You'll be fine."

She looked unsure. But she didn't have much choice at this point.

"And don't be mad at Cas. He did what he had to to be with you. I don't think he wants to lose you again."

She got up fast and hugged me, surprising me for a second. I pulled her into a hug.

"Tell no one about that," she said as we broke apart.

I smiled and shook my head. We walked back out into the library.

Dean's hands were in his head. Cas was nowhere to be seen. Sam was hugging Jess near the far edge of the room.

I walked over to the computer.

 **This book is a signed blood contract for all the parties involved. Each party has understood their sacrifice, their purpose, and their roles. Each will play them until a time is reached when the contract is no longer binding or a party is terminated.**

It was signed, Lucifer, Gabriel, Death, Hypnos, and Clotho.

 **The Darkness must be contained. IF she were to escape or be freed, this creation of God's, Earth, would be paralyzed and terminated within the span of one Earth year.**

I sat down in the chair. Two months. That's all we had left. Two months.

 **Chapter 29: Break Me Down**

It felt as if I'd been punched in the gut. Earth was a mess. The Darkness spreading like a pandemic across the world. It was hard enough getting a track on her. Now we had to get a track of her plus figure out how to get her back in the box.

I looked up at Dean. He looked tired. He looked ragged. As if this news just shredded all hope for a future he had cooked up in his head.

I got up. I walked to Dean's room. I sat on the floor with my grandmother's journals and the transcript of what was written in the book.

The whole book had no context. Almost like it was written in code. I closed my eyes.

"Really? Come on. Just give me a break."

I heard a knock on the door, expecting Dean, surprised to see Castiel standing in my doorway.

"Cas? Everything okay?"

"The book is coded, right?"

"How did you know that?" I asked, looking between the manuscript and him.

"Because all archangel contracts were. I can help decipher it, if you'll let me."

"Absolutely. I need all the help I can get right now. What is everyone else doing out there?" I asked him, curious as to what had happened to the group.

Cas looked down at the floor. "They're...getting drunk."

I took in a deep, angry breath. I didn't have time for their shit right now. Yeah the world was ending. In two months.

"Of course they are."

Cas sat on the floor next to me.

"So these signatures, Clotho. That's my last name. Any symbolism in that."

"A great deal I would imagine. There are three sisters of Fate. We know this. However, the eldest sister, Clotho, was the one who would wind life off of the spool. But she was replaced. By the fourth sister. Before she was removed, she stole a long strand of the gold thread that life was created on."

"Why was she removed?" I asked, having never heard this story.

"I don't know, my contact in Heaven-he wouldn't or couldn't tell me."

"Okay...how come no one has ever heard the story of Clotho being replaced and her sister given the same name?"

"I imagine it had something to do with shame. Or hiding."

Castiel took the manuscript from me. He started writing in it with pen, flipping back and forth between pages. I wanted to tell him about Meg. About the huge sacrifice he'd made for her. But I didn't want to scare him off. We rarely spoke. He always seemed afraid of me. Like I had too much power for a human.

I picked up my grandmother's journal and I felt time stop. Someone or something was here. I picked up my bow. Castiel got up with me. I forgot this didn't affect him.

I moved silently through the bunker. I saw a shadow flit in front of the hallway light.

"Cas, go to the library. Keep them safe," when I saw the look on his face I added, "I'll be fine."

The lights flipped off. Red warning lights flashed throughout the hallways. I felt the ghost of wind behind me. But I knew better; I stayed out of that ruse.

Whatever it was laughed. It was a woman's laugh.

"Smarter than you look. Your time is up. In fact, your time was up in 2009."

I pulled the arrow tighter to the string. Reaper? No. Wouldn't make sense.

I saw the shadow again and shot an arrow. I heard a screech that made me cover my ears and suddenly whatever it was, was upon me.

It was a woman. I smacked her in the mouth with my bow. I saw blood drip down her face.

"Huh, just for that, I'm going to send you back to Hell."

She pulled out at first what I thought were scissors, but they glowed blue and I knew exactly what they were. It was the soul knife. She lifted them up above her head and the sound that emitted from them, dropped me to my knees. She brought it down, and I held up the arm of my bow to her, the light burning my eyes, the sound blowing out my eardrums. I could hear the sounds of thousands of souls screaming from it.

She went flying backwards I heard her land against the far wall.

"GET THEM OUT OF HERE!" I yelled to Castiel when I saw him standing above me.

"But…"

"No! Get them out!"

Cas was gone in a flash. I touched the green jade on my bracelet. The screaming stopped. She got back up and tried to break the green barrier between me and her. When she hit it, I saw a crack down the side of it.

"Shit! What do you want from me!?"

"I want you to die, you abomination. I want you to disappear from our timeline."

"Who the fuck are you?"

She sneered at me. "Atropos."

My eyes blew open. The third sister. The cutter of the thread. The Fate that chose your death.

"Like my scissors? I had to steal them back from Lucifer or whoever is running Hell these days."

My green shield wasn't going to hold. I pulled out the sickle from the bracelet and dropped my bow and shield. I swung at her.

"You think you get to kill me? That's not how this works."

Her shears lit up again and the sound brought me to my knees.

I wasn't going to be able to defeat her. I knew next to nothing about the Fates.

I had only a few options left on my bracelet. Lucifer in his cage, the twin flames, and the thread and considering she was the one who cut the thread, I thought better of it.

Instead, I looked at the ruby in the cage. I wasn't going to have time to figure out how to fight her off but did I really want to jump in the cage with Lucifer? I knew he had answers to my questions. He was literally the only one alive that signed that contract.

She came down hard again with the shears and I screamed out as my body started to feel the effects of the knife being so close to me. I swiped at her again, catching her at the leg.

"FUCK!" I had one option.

Somewhere, in the distance I heard a gunshot go off. My ears stopped ringing. But my hand was already on the charm. I turned my head just in time to see Dean before I disappeared.

 **Chapter 30: Pleased to Meet You, Won't You Guess My Name?**

I landed hard on the metal floor. The look on Dean's face would haunt me.

"OOH! A new plaything. Welcome to my humble abode m'lady." A tall blonde man in a floral print shirt said to me.

He held out a hand to help me stand up. It was then that I realized I was in a cage. I popped up from the floor. I started screaming for help.

"No one's coming. Scream all you want."

I looked at him. He was strange. And he was giving off a strange presence. His eyes flashed green.

"Lucifer," I said in a whisper. I brought my hand up to my mouth.

"Oh where are my manners, I'm Lucifer. That quivering mess in the corner mumbling to himself is my little brother Michael."

I slowly realized there was a person sitting in the corner. I walked over to him.

"What happened to him?" I asked.

"Oh once Sam's soul disappeared I had no one else to play with," he said. But the way he said the word 'play' sent shivers up my spine.

"So Jade. What brings you here?"

"You know me?"

"Know you, oh honey, you popped the cherry on the apocalypse seals. Well you and Dean. I even stopped by to thank you, you don't remember?"

I didn't say anything but he knew. He knew I'd seen him that night.

"So again, what brings you here?" He asked a little more forcefully. He was used to getting his way.

"You name was on a blood contract I found in a book my family owned. You're the only one alive left of that contract." I said.

"You look just like her."

"What?"

"You look like the spitting image of the original Clotho. You want to know what the deal was. What the contract said, right?"

"Well yeah," I said blushing.

"God didn't create the Earth out of nothing. God created the world by forcing back the Darkness. He locked her in a box. He created a symbol to serve as lock and key, created by twin flames, Death and Hypnos. He entrusted me with that lock and key. Buuuuuuut, they had a force of their own, turned me on my father and I ended up, well, here. So I made a deal with Death and Hypnos to split the symbol." He wandered around the cage as he spoke, tussling Michael's hair who would flinch.

"But Death had a problem. He created a child with the original Clotho. She wanted her own life. She wanted to be human. She no longer wanted to be a Fate. So, in return for Death and Hypnos to split the lock and key, I had to grant her wish. I couldn't exactly do that from here, so I enlisted the help of my other brother. I have lots of those. Most of them hate me, but whatevs. Gabriel, granted her freedom, granted her humanity, and she went on to live her life, pass down her genetic line. So you're like the great-great-great-great-great- add about fifteen more great-s granddaughter of Death." He eyed me up and down.

"The contract stated that we would keep the Darkness locked away. The lock, given to Cain. The key passed through Clotho's family line. That if she were to be let out, we would destroy the Earth. If she destroys it before we can, she will spread across the universe, blacking out everything. Hypnos agreed to protect Clotho's family because unlike Cain's mark, yours doesn't cause the symptoms," he made finger quotes around that word, "that Cain's mark created."

"So this bracelet is protection?" I asked him. He was sitting in the corner now, seemingly bored with this conversation.

"Yeah. Each charm has a unique purpose. Death's sickle, Clotho's spool, Hypnos clock, my cage, the lock for the Darkness, and the twin flames," he smiled as if he knew something more.

He popped up suddenly. He came within inches of me. He looked into my eyes. Deep, I could almost feel them penetrating my soul.

"Damn, girl. You are all kinds of fucked up. Someone got a little trigger happy with Atropos' shears."

He grabbed my wrist and bracelet and closed his eyes.

"She didn't…" he whispered.

I watched as he twisted his head, like he was weaving in and out of traffic. Suddenly his eyes popped open.

"She did, that bitch."

"Excuse me?"

"You're excused," he said wandering around the cell, hand on his chin, thinking deep.

"Lucifer!"

He turned hard, like it had been eons since he'd heard his name come from someone else's mouth.

I backed into the farthest corner of the cell. As far away from him as I could get.

"Clotho. That spool on your bracelet. Still contains the thread of life. She created twin flames. Four sets of them. The Winchester family. John and Mary. The twin flames Sam and Dean. She created them because she knew they could stop the apocalypse should it happen. Then she created her family. Only she bound your thread to Dean. And Jess' to Sam. There are more sets of twin flames on the Earth at this time then there ever have been. FUCK!"

I jumped when he said that as it echoed around whatever space we were in.

"I knew we shouldn't have trusted her with that spool. You were a sacrifice. You were meant to start the apocalypse. What I hadn't planned on was the Winchester's depth of love for each other. Why they were able to stop me at every turn. Even getting Sam's soul back."

He shook his head. Then he started laughing. It was maniacal. He started shaking the bars and I felt the cage sway back and forth and it dawned upon me that the cage was in suspension.

"Guess that'll teach me to sign a blood contract. How long you have left before this cage breaks and I destroy the Earth?" He said when he finally stopped laughing.

"Two months."

"Ehhhhh...it'll probably be like a month by the time you get back. You know, time down here," he said making the sign for crazy at his temple.

"Well, you'll have a shot. But a little birdy told me that your friend made a devil's deal with that sad sack Crowley. I have a loophole."

I was wary.

"What do you want from me?"

"I want that spool. I can't have you making more twin flames and whatnot. Do you know why Atropos tried to kill you? She was pissed her sister got out. Didn't have to be a Fate. Then she got even more pissed at the Winchester's when they stopped the apocalypse. And then to find out you, you who looks exactly like her sister, and is supposed to be dead, is in fact, alive. She lost it. So give me that charm and I'll give you the loophole and a way to stop the Darkness." He said a sinister smile on his face, legs crossed.

"Why should I trust you?"

"Ha. Look at me. Look at who you're talking to. You totally shouldn't. But what choice do you have?" He asked his eyes flashing green.

I looked over at Michael in the corner. Singing something and bobbing his head.

I took a deep breath. I pulled on the charm. It refused to let go.

"That ain't gonna work, sister. You have to want to give it up. And I can guarantee you, it's not gonna let go easy."

I thought about Castiel and Meg. I thought about the Darkness. One month. I thought about Dean. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath. I pulled the charm. I felt a tug at my heart. I pulled harder. My heart started to beat hard. I looked up at Lucifer. He was standing with his arms crossed, almost impatiently.

I pulled harder. I screamed. It felt like my heart was being torn out. I stopped.

"Am I gonna die from this?"

"No. You're line has already been cut. It's just merging your possible future familial line back into the original spool. Now can we make it snappy? I have things to do."

I had no idea what that meant, nor did I want to find out.

I pulled harder. I doubled over. I screamed. I coughed up blood. I kept pulling. More blood spit out of me. I thought I was going to die. I growled a scream and pulled as hard as I thought my muscles would go without breaking my bones. The charm let go.

I was on my hands and knees. I spit another glob of blood onto the floor.

"Excuse me, I don't go spitting blood on your floor."

I tossed the charm at him.

He looked at it for a moment.

Then he threw it out the side of the cage. I saw flames take it and melt it down.

"Alrighty! Now onto your half of the deal. So the deal was that they would give up their powers, his grace, her demon juice, if the Darkness is killed or put back in the box. But there's a third option. You keep her alive but you put her somewhere where she can create her own Earth. If you haven't figured it out yet, she trying to purge this Earth so she can rebuild it."

"And how do I get her somewhere where she can create her own planet? I'm just a human," I said wiping blood from my mouth.

Lucifer came up close to me. "Nope. No you're not. You're a twin flame. Say 'Hi' to Sammy for me."

Suddenly I was pulled through what felt like my navel and I realized Lucifer had grabbed the cage charm and I landed hard on the cement floor of the bunker.

"DEAN!"

I heard Sam's voice and he was the first person, I saw when I looked up. I smiled at him.

"I know how to stop her," I said as my eyes fell back into my head and dropped into Sam's arms.

 **Chapter 31: This is the End**

I woke up and Dean was sitting on the edge of the bed flipping through my grandmother's journals.

"Dean? How long was I out for?"

He turned to me and planted the hardest kiss on me. Like he thought he'd lost me.

When we finally broke he asked, "Where did you go?"

"To see the only surviving member of that contract."

"You went to Lucifer's cage?! Have you lost your mind?" He asked me, sounding frustrated and exasperated.

"Maybe. But he told me everything. Everything that I assume you've learned from that manuscript. All about the Clotho and Death. The separating of the lock and key. The protection spell on me. The fact that there are three sets of twin flames. Why Clotho created your family from her string and how my sacrifice started everything."

"Yeah but that got us no closer to solving the impending world ending woman that the Darkness has become."

"Actually…"

"He gave you a way to destroy her? What did he want in return?" He asked looking me up and down to see if I was missing any body parts.

"He wanted the spool on my bracelet. It was dangerous enough in the hands of Clotho. She created family lines, that should have been created on the original spool. She created four sets of twin flames. The most that have ever lived at one time. Actually, there's only three of the four left. Your parents are gone. But giving him that charm forced our families to merge back into the original spool, which for me was...bloody."

Dean took a deep breath, "You took one hell of a risk going there."

"It's not like I had much choice. Atropos had me on the ropes and I had no way to beat her. Speaking of...what did you hit her with that stopped her?"

"Deadly Nightshade filled bullets."

I gave him a puzzled look.

"Atropa belladonna. Deadly nightshade. Doesn't kill her. Makes her weak. She agreed to leave us alone because of the much more world shattering Darkness."

"Lucifer also gave me a loophole for what Cas agreed to with Crowley. We can't kill her and we can't put her back in the box. That forces the two of them to give up their powers."

"So we do what? Ask her to stop?"

"Funny. No. We send her away. Alive. Far away where she can create her own Earth or humanity or whatever the hell she wants to create."

"And we do this how?"

"Twin flames," I said.

"Which means what?" He asked.

"No idea. That's what Lucifer said. Twin flames, figure it out."

"He's such a helpful prick," Dean said standing up.

"How much time do we have left?"

"Three days. Max."

"Do we know where she is?"

"Sam can track her pretty easily now."

"Then we go tomorrow," I said walking out of the bedroom and going to the library.

"Meg? Castiel? Library!"

The appeared in the corner with no warning.

"I seriously hate when you guys do that," I said.

"Everyone knows what's going on. What the contract said. Why I'm here. Who I am. The three sets of twin flames in this room. We have three days. We go tomorrow."

Everyone started talking at once, getting louder and louder.

"STOP! Look, we don't kill her, we don't lock her back in the box. We keep her alive and move her to her own universe to create whatever she wants."

"Oh and we're just gonna convince her like that?" Meg asked, sarcasm dripping off her voice.

"Actually yeah, but we need something. Something that Atropos forgot to take with her. I can hear it. Even in whatever box you boys put it in. I know it's here. We use it. To cut out the part of her that wants to destroy this Earth."

"And how will you know exactly where to cut?" Castiel asked.

"Because I've had enough experience with that knife than any of you will ever know. And you'll all have to trust me. If this doesn't work, then I know how to get her back in the box. But I want to try this first because it's a loophole for your deal, Castiel. It will allow you and Meg to keep your powers," I said looking directly at Castiel's bright blue eyes. I saw Meg next to him with her mouth dropped open.

"Where did you go to learn all this? None of this was in any of the books," Sam asked.

I sighed. "I went to Lucifer. I went to his cage."

"And you made it out alive, with no damage to your soul or body?" He looked at me surprised.

"I wouldn't say no damage. He wanted something in return for his information. The charm with the spool. It was a bloody mess."

"I wish you would have talked to me about it first. I've dealt first hand with him…"

"I know you have. And I also know your soul was tortured in that place. But he had no reason to torture me. Besides, I think he's busy with Michael," I said.

Both boys flinched.

"So look, the strongest bond has to send her off this Earth. That means me and Dean. We were the lock and key. We started it, we have to finish it."

"Me and Dean will confront her. We'll put magic cuffs on her, it'll slow her magic down. It won't stop it. But it'll allow us to get in close. I will put up my jade shield. Then I will hold this charm. I don't know what it does yet. So I don't know what's going to happen."

Everyone was staring at me. Dean was watching my right hand. It was playing with the ruby in the cage.

"How do you know all this?" Castiel asked.

"I-I don't know…" I stopped touching the charm. It was like the plan I saw before my eyes disappeared. I touched the charm.

"He's telling you, through that charm isn't he?" Dean asked, anger in his voice.

"Jade, you can't listen to him. He's a liar. And the devil…"

"I understand that. But if we don't stop her, he won't be here either, so what reason does he have to lie to me?"

Everyone was quiet.

I took a breath. "If the cuffs break, if nothing happens when I hit this charm, then the six of us link arms, a light should shine and she'll be drawn to us. Once she falls in, we let go. It will create three locks and three keys. We will have to share them."

"No. NO!" Dean yelled, "Do you know how dangerous those locks are? I bore the lock for just over a year and I destroyed people…"

I looked at him with sorrow in my eyes, "I understand, but the locks won't have nearly as strong as a pull as one single lock. This is it. These are our options. They're both shitty. I understand that more than anyone, but she has to be stopped. We have to stop her," I looked directly at Dean when I said this.

He turned and grabbed a bottle from the shelf behind him.

"Fuck. Guess it's all or nothing, huh?"

"Pretty much," I said, watching him take a swig and then pass it to Sam.

The bottle became a sign that everyone was going to go with this plan. It's not like we had much of a choice. The bottle finally ended up at me.

"I'm sorry," I said before taking a swig and slamming the bottle down.

Everyone got up and walked to their bedrooms. I stayed in the library.

This had to work. It was a bad plan. Weak at best. But it had to work.

 **Chapter 32: Hold Your Breath and Count to 10**

I rubbed my face in my hands. I tried to make a mental note of removing the ruby in the cage charm when I had a chance. Last thing I needed was the devil talking to me every time it touched my arm.

This was a terrible plan, I spoke back to the cage.

 _Well, when we boxed her up we had the power of God, and four archangels._

I shook my head, "Then why even split the lock and key in the first place if one could be removed without the other?"

 _That's none of my doing. You can take that up with Dad if you ever see him._

"Actually, splitting them up was your idea. It was part of the contract."

 _That's only because they were too dangerous for one person. The fact they could be split was all him._

"Yeah, and somehow I still think you got it wrong. The key did nothing to the members of my family who kept it safe. However, Cain and Dean on the other hand, lost their minds with bloodlust."

 _You know, you're right. Whoopsie._

"For an archangel, you are an idiot."

 _Don't make me bring you back down here. What you felt the in my cage is nothing as to what Sam put up with. Or Dean during his time down here. So I don't want to hear any lip from you. I gave you a plan. Is it the best plan? No. But it's all we've got. So a thank you would be nice._

"Yeah, thanks Lucifer. Another question for you, why wasn't I read my sins?"

 _I heard and evil laugh reverberate around my head. I could almost see them smug smile on his face. Because you didn't belong there. Duh. Did you really think you should have been sent to Hell for the few sins you committed on Earth? Really?_

"Then why was I there?"

 _Part of the contract. You were the sacrifice. It would have been easy to get Dean to spill your blood once we got him off the table. But had I known Clotho was going to create your familial lines from her own thread, I would have thought twice. You were also hidden._

"From who?"

 _I am so done with this conversation. Don't you have anything better to do than chit chat with me. Like prep for your takedown of the Darkness or something. Good luck._

I rolled my eyes and stood up and pinching the bridge of my nose. There was nothing left now except to try and get some sleep. Or prep for tomorrow, though even if it was a flawless plan there were too many variables. Too many surprises that could happen. And after she was gone what would we be left with? Half scorched earth, dead walking around. It would be like the apocalypse actually had gone through.

The picture of my grandmother was sitting on the table. She was so beautiful at that age. I picked it up to turn it over.

 _Green._

" _Are you sure this spell will protect her? You know they have Atropos' soul blades down there." It was my grandmother's voice_

" _Yes, I'm sure. You understand why we have to send her to Hell; it'll be the only place the other Fates won't be able to find her." Another voice came through. This was a man's voice._

" _She's also the sacrifice. So, I beg of you, make that spell as strong as possible. She may not live if she comes back to Earth someday without its protection."_

" _I know what I'm doing. Are you ready, the cars are about to cross the intersection."_

" _I know what I have to do, but why me? There are so many reapers, why me?"_

" _Because only you can put the spell on the bracelet."_

 _I saw my grandmother sigh. I heard the sickening screech of brakes and metal collide and mangle. I heard a horn in the distance. I heard screams of people as they got out of their cars. Phones dialing 911._

 _Then as if my whole body seized up and pain screamed through every bone, every vein and artery, every breath, I felt a hand around my arm._

 _I heard a chant. Greek. Then I felt myself pulled from the wreckage, my body stopped hurting, I saw her. She smiled at me._

" _It's time to go my Jade dragon."_

" _But I don't want to."_

" _I know, sweetheart, but death isn't always goodbye. Remember that."_

 _I felt a pull from behind me and I felt as if I were crashing through floors until I landed on stone. A shadow picked me up._

" _Welcome to Hell."_

 **Chapter 33: Feel the Earth Move**

I looked around. Nothing looked different, but then again nothing would be able to tell me if time had stopped, unless Meg was around, but my guess was she was either laying into Castiel about the deal he made or just laying into him.

I ran my fingers through my hair. And got up to pack a bag for tomorrow. Dean's door was shut, so I knocked before I entered.

He was sitting on the edge of the bed, hands in his head. He looked up at me. He looked tired and scared. But relieved to see me.

I sat down next to him and reached for his hand.

"Do you know how scared I was when I saw you disappear like that? I thought she'd killed you or something. I thought that you were gone for good. I couldn't feel you, like I normally can when you are around. Like a warm presence. It just disappeared and all I was left with was cold reality that I may never see you again. I had no idea where you'd gone to," Dean said, squeezing my hand, almost feeling like he'd refuse to ever let it go.

"I'm sorry. I didn't have time to explain. Any longer and she would have killed me. She already cracked my shield with those awful soul cutters of hers. And I figured Lucifer's cage would at least get me out of her reach until Cas and Meg could deal with her. I didn't expect you to show up," my voice cracked a little at that last part. His eyes forever haunting me with the expression he had when I disappeared.

He didn't say anything to me. He got up and crossed the room. I expected him to walk out the door and leave. Instead he got up and locked the door. I stood up. He crossed the room and caught my head in his hands. He kissed me. His fingers ran through my hair. It was so deep and so strong I thought we'd burn up.

I wanted to start pulling clothes off.

"No...I want to savor you tonight. We may not have tomorrow…" He whispered as we broke apart.

"Maybe not but we'll always have Heaven…" I said breathy.

He walked away from me. My hand didn't want to let his go. He walked over to an old record player. As the music played he held out his hand for mine. I smiled.

He spun me into him. I laid my head on his shoulder as we slowly moved to the music. I wanted nothing more than this moment. I closed my eyes and breathed him in. Our hands fit together perfectly. We moved in time to the music, each step feeling as if we were moving from one piece of falling cliff to the next. So much tension but so much trust.

The music slowly ended. He gave me a smile. He kissed me again. His hands followed my curves leaving shivers down my spine as he went. My hands reached up to his hair, tangling it in the short spiky pieces poking out.

He pulled my shirt off of me and moved his mouth down my neck, dipping his tongue in the curves of my collarbones, sending an even bigger shiver through me. My hands dropped to his biceps, holding on for dear life, because my knees were in no condition to keep standing.

I pulled his shirt off over his head and fell back onto the bed, my knees no longer willing to stand. He followed me onto the bed, our lips never leaving each other.

"I need you," I whispered into his ear.

"I know."

He unhooked my bra and tossed it aside. He kissed down my collarbone to my breast bone taking each breast in his hand and then his mouth. The wet heat from his mouth forced my back to arch and I cried out in a soft moan. He kept going lower until he hit my jeans. His finger fumbled with the button and zipper until they were finally off.

I hooked my leg around his and flipped him under me. I started at his ear. My tongue following the curve of his ear, down the side of his neck to his jawline. I reached up for a kiss and he pulled my head into him, forcing that deep, unyielding, sun bursting kiss.

I bit little nibbles into his shoulders and across his chest. I kissed down his stomach, running my tongue along his muscles, sucking little bruises into spots.

I sat across his thighs and made quick work of his pants, arching his hips off the bed to pull everything off at once.

My fingers traced the V down to his already rock hard dick. My fingers ghosted across him.

"J-jade…"

His voice was needy. His world was crumbling around him and I was the only thing holding him to the Earth.

I kissed his thighs and nuzzled up against his erection making him moan again. His hands were reaching for mine so I reached up to meet him. I wrapped my mouth around him and his hips lifted off the bed.

"Fuck...Jade…"

I smiled and worked him slowly. Taking him down slower and slower.

He made a sound that again showed his soul. His broken soul.

I finally took him all the way down and I heard a hiss out of him.

"Oh baby...feels good."

I worked my tongue around him and felt him wrap his hands in my hair. I let him make the pace for a little while before I took back over.

"Stop...stop...JADE!"

I took my mouth off of him.

"I didn't want to come that soon. But know that a second longer and you would have lost me," he said, his breath raspy and hungry.

He pulled me close to him and kissed me. It was needy. A pull from somewhere beyond us.

I felt his hands reach up my back, and hold me at the small of my back. He left kisses along my neck.

I kicked my underwear off and I positioned myself on top of him.

He slid into me and both of us grated out moans that permeated us. It shook us to our very cores. I could feel my own shake and his too. Every single nerve seemed to be firing. Each caress of his hand along my skin, seemed to set me ablaze. He looked no different.

"What was that?" I asked.

"Don't know, don't care right now," he said as the shaking stopped and his hips started to moved.

I arched. His hands were holding my hips but left them and moved to my tits as I found my own pace.

My hands were on his chest, holding my balance.

Both of us were panting, moaning, grating out half formed words.

I swirled my hips and found that spot inside myself. From the noise Dean made it did something for him too.

So I kept going. I was leaving claw marks in his chest. He had his hands back on my hips, rounding their way to my ass every so often.

"Dean…"

"Jade…"

I moved my hips faster; our moans got louder, faster, harder. I heard a what sounded like a true growl out of Dean and he threw his head back as mine fell back a millisecond later. My eyes lit up and all I could see was fire. I could hear us screaming each other's name but I couldn't see anything but flames. I could feel myself pulsating around him. I could feel him throbbing inside of me.

The orange faded from my eyes, and my body just gave up, falling limp next to Dean, who still had his eyes closed but was breathing harder than I'd ever seen him.

We stayed like that, for what felt like years. I listened as my heartbeat slowed and quieted in my ears, I felt my breathing even out. I looked over at Dean. He had opened his eyes and was looking at me sideways.

A whole conversation was said through just our eyes and we started to laugh. He rolled over to me and wrapped his arm around me and I pulled the blanket up around us.

We stayed wrapped in each other. We knew exactly what happened between the two of us. We didn't have to talk about it. But we knew. We solidified something. That soul mate status. The twin flames. The twin suns. Whatever it's called. If we were unsure before, we weren't anymore.

 **Chapter 34: Sound of Silence**

We woke to smell of coffee. We dressed in silence. We packed bags. As I put, the box that held the shears, which were still forcing me to wince, into a bag my eyes caught a glimpse of my bracelet.

It was different.

There were two new charms.

"What the…" I whispered as I turned my wrist.

Dean had come over, "What's up?"

I showed him the new charms. One was a spire. It was connected to the charm with two suns. The other was a set of what looked like angel wings.

I looked at him. His brows furrowed.

"Maybe they were hidden until this time. Until they knew we'd have to fight," Dean offered up.

I finished packing and we walked out into the library, hand in hand.

Sam and Jess were already ticking away at their computers, coffee next to them. Meg and Cas were having an unheard conversation. The other hunters had been on the trail of the Darkness for a few days making sure they didn't lose her. They were ordered not to go near her or stop her. Some tried anyways. Every so often we got a report that another hunter had gone down.

Dean stopped at Sam. I walked on and broke the gaze between Cas and Meg.

"There's new charms," I said, plainly.

Cas tilted his head at me. Meg's eyes got bigger.

I showed them. Cas said he could only guess they were hidden, probably by Lucifer or another Archangel, which is why he couldn't see them.

Cas turned to me and Meg disappeared in a huff.

I looked at Cas concerned.

She might have been a demon, but she was my first friend. Demon or not.

Cas spoke.

"We've decided we'd rather just open the portal and lock her away. It's safer. We know it'll work."

I gave him a soft smile, "That's not your call to make. We're gonna do it my way first. I know you think that that way may be safer, but it's not. Whoever ends up with the locks ends up with a bloodthirst and if that happens to be you or Meg, you'll be unstoppable, even if it is a weakened version of Dean's mark. So we do it my way first."

Cas opened his mouth.

"You won't win this one, angel. So stop trying. I know what I'm doing with those shears. I know exactly where to aim. Down to the inch. I'm an archer. I have to be accurate. And you have to trust me and Dean. Do you trust him?"

Cas opened and closed his mouth. I know he expected me to say 'Do you trust us or me?' but I knew he didn't yet. But I knew he trusted Dean.

"Yes."

"Then it's settled. Let us try."

Cas took a deep breath. He disappeared.

I walked back over to Dean and Sam.

"I've got a hard lock on her," Jess said.

We all looked at her.

"It's time to go."

Everyone grabbed their bags. We knew Cas and Meg would meet us on the outskirts of coordinates we left for them. They'd probably be there before us.

It wasn't far. Lebanon, Kansas. I smiled at that. The geographical center of the U.S.. Funny.

Sam and Jess went first. We hit the top of the stairs, watching Sam and Jess put their packs in the trunk.

Dean snapped the lights off. The red emergency lights left a glow off his green eyes. He pulled me close. He planted another world-stopping, fiery kiss on me.

"For luck," he said with a smile.

 **Chapter 35: Hello Darkness, My Old Friend**

We drove. We went over the plan a million times. Every time finding new holes we had to figure out ways to plug.

It wasn't far. Maybe an hour's drive. And time seemed to speed up because Dean stopped just before the coordinates after what felt like twenty minutes.

Power rolled over us. We could all feel it. Like we were standing in a wave pool. The closer we got, the stronger the waves got.

I had my bow across my chest. Dean carried the box with the shears. Sam and Jess both holding guns that had bullets of gold and silver, etched with the symbol of the Darkness with got from the book.

We had no idea if that would stop her, but we didn't have much to work with.

Meg and Cas were there standing next to Crowley.

My eyebrows arched.

"You think I'd miss the battle of Earth?" his British drawl let out.

I watched Dean roll his eyes.

"If you're gonna be here, you're gonna be helpful. You're gonna help Meg and Cas strengthen Jade's shield," he stated with deadly poison in his voice.

Crowley held up his hands, "Fine."

"Where is she?" I asked.

"Just beyond that patch of trees," Cas said.

"What is she doing?" Dean asked.

"Just standing there. Eyes closed. Like she's meditating or something," Meg said.

Me and Dean looked at each other. She knew we were coming. It didn't matter. We factored that in when we went through the million plans in the car. There wasn't much we couldn't do about that.

We all walked through the trees. Dean and I, hand in hand. First. Behind us, Jess and Sam. Meg and Cas and bringing up the rear, Crowley complaining the whole time about the outdoors.

The trees finally gave way to an open field. And there she was. Standing, eyes closed, in a black dress.

I hit the jade pendant and a green glow encased the seven of us. Meg and Castiel immediately went to work fixing the crack the soul shears had made. Dean glared at Crowley who huffed and started helping Meg and Cas.

An echo rounded the dome we were in.

"Hello," a woman's voice said. I looked at the Darkness. She hadn't moved.

"You opened the box. You let me out," she moved her head, "You're strong. You've come to save what's left of your home. Why?"

"Because it is ours. We have to try," Sam said, before anyone else could speak.

We knew as we got closer that the shield would soon leave Sam and Jess exposed. We had to put them at risk. Cas and Meg would do what they could but it was nothing like the spell I'd been given.

I saw a shadow behind Cas. His broken wings spread. He was immediately joined by another seven sets of shadowed wings. I couldn't see who was attached to them, but I knew they had to be there to help.

Dean and I stepped forward. The Darkness held her arms out for the chains. Another expectation. This one a little more of a surprise to us.

Dean clamped one on each wrist.

"This won't stop me."

"We're aware," I said.

"Neither will what's in that box."

Dean looked at me and put the box down.

She finally opened up her eyes. She looked directly at me. She smiled.

"You. Jade. A Fate. Long lost Fate. You've come to pass judgment."

"No. I'm not a Fate."

"But you carry their blood."

"Yes, I do. But I am not one. And I haven't come to pass judgement. I've come to ask you to build your own home. To leave ours."

"Why? God isn't here. He doesn't care about you. He lets you fight and fight and offers no help in return for your faith in him."

"Neither do you," I said, "You want to wipe us out and start over. You don't care about us either."

"And your friends back there. I could take them out with just a blink."

"Exactly. You don't care about us. So why take us out?"

"Because he locked me away. Afraid my world would be better. More perfect."

"Then prove him right. By showing him your universe can be better, instead of wiping out his."

Dean grabbed for my wrist and he touched my bracelet.

Suddenly, red wings stood to the left of him, and gold wings to the left of me.

"Pandora," gold wings said.

She took a sharp intake, "Gabriel," she whispered.

She turned to look at the angel on Dean's left.

"Lucifer."

There was a moment of fear in her face.

Dean looked at me. His eyes were wide.

"Pandora, stop this. You don't want to go back in the box. We know that. We didn't want to put you there," Gabriel said, sadness in his eyes.

"But you did anyways," she said with a vile voice.

"We did it because you were destructive. We gave you the option to leave. We're offering that same choice this time too," Lucifer said.

"Why does he always get what he wants."

"He doesn't want anything anymore, Pandora. He's gone. He's been gone for eons now," Gabriel said, reaching out to her.

"So who runs the show?" She asked.

"The angels. The demons. The humans. We make our own paths. They may not be the right ones. And yes, one day we probably are going to destroy everything, but that's our choices to make," Gabriel said.

She tilted her head looking between the four of us.

"No. He doesn't get to have his way and then leave them to destroy themselves. If I destroy his creation then I can start over…"

"You will destroy everything. Including yourself. You have more power than you think Pandora. You have the ability to create, but also to destroy. If you take this universe, you will take yourself with it. It won't be just the Darkness. It'll be nothing. The Void," Lucifer explained.

Her eyes got wide. Fear spread across her face when Lucifer mentioned the void.

I was more shocked at how Lucifer spoke to her versus the way he spoke to me. Like she was a child.

"The Void? But how?"

"Because you'll destroy yourself. The power it would take to destroy everything God has created, would cause you to implode, leaving nothing but the Void," Lucifer's voice came again.

Gabriel stepped forward and took her hands, hearing the chains jangle as he moved them.

"You deserve your own chance. But you can't do that if you destroy everything here. The lock and key wasn't the only reason God cast Lucifer out. He argued. For you. That you should be allowed to create just as much as he did. They battled. And God took Lucifer's wings for it. Cast him into the pit. We made an agreement to destroy this Earth before you could, should you ever get out. Earth would be destroyed, but you'd live. Take this chance, Pandora," Gabriel pleaded with her.

Adrenaline and fear for my home coursed through me. And it was as if suddenly I'd found my voice.

"You have the same right as God to create miracles, just as we do with our children. To change the future. To not repeat the past. To do something different," I spoke and held a hand across my stomach. She reached out to my hand.

Her eyes lit up.

I looked at Dean. I smiled at him.

"She has all the chance in the world to save this Earth," I said.

"More," the Darkness said.

I tilted my head at her. Her eyes glowed and watched as some of her light poured down her arm and into her hand across mine. I felt the power flow through me.

Gabriel and Lucifer looked at each other. Dean was still looking at me with his mouth hanging open.

"She's a miracle. Your miracle. A creation of God and you. Give her the chance to save this world," I pleaded.

A tear was falling down the Darkness' eyes. She looked down at her shackles. She looked around her. She'd seen the damage she'd caused. She started to walk forward. We didn't stop her. We all knew we could if we had to. We followed her as she walked up to Jess and Sam. She put her hand across her stomach. Light poured from her into Jess, whose eyes lit up. She moved again. To Meg.

"A nephilim," the Darkness smiled, instead of light pouring from her. She just removed her hand.

"He won't need my help," she smiled at Meg.

She walked back standing between Lucifer and Gabriel. "Ok. Let's go."

Me and Dean walked forward. The four of us held hands. Dean pressed the two suns and the spire on my bracelet. Our feet didn't move but the rest of the world did.

 **Chapter 36: It's the End and I'm Not Afraid**

We landed on another Earth like planet. It was empty. Just stretches of land.

"Where are we?" I asked out loud.

"Somewhere safe. Somewhere she can be herself."

Dean walked forward and removed her shackles. She dropped to the ground. Dean moved to pick her up.

"Don't," Gabriel said.

The Darkness looked at me. Like she was speaking through me.

"It's the end. And I'm not afraid to die. I've passed on my light. They will be the creators of Earth. They will make the choices I couldn't. I'm sorry. I'm sorry for the damage I caused. That I couldn't fix it."

Lucifer and Gabriel surrounded their wings around her.

"Shh. It's okay. It's time we go. You know what will happen. You may not get to see it, but know it'll be beautiful," Gabriel said, "Here and there."

She smiled slightly at them. Her body went limp. The angels picked her up with their wings and held her.

Me and Dean stood close to each other. We almost felt like we were intruding on something so very personal. We watched as the light poured from her into the ground. We watched it spread across the land as water and trees popped up.

Her body disintegrated into dust that floated to the atmosphere of this world.

"She's gone. She's built her world. She's saved yours. It's time to go home."

Dean grabbed the suns and spire charm. Our Earth came back into view. I touched the jade pendant again and the shield dropped.

The angels were gone. Sam and Jess were staring at us. Meg and Cas were looking at each other.

We turned to look at them. Sam had placed his hand on Jess' stomach. She smiled and shook her head. He picked her up off her feet and spun her around.

Cas put his hand on Meg and he took a step backward, eyes wide. Meg gave me a sly smile.

Dean turned to me.

"Is it true?"

I smiled at him. "Yeah. Apparently when I removed that spool from my bracelet, it also removed...that," I said looking down at my stomach.

He fell to his knees. He rested his head against my stomach. I put my hand on his head.

"You're going to save us. You have her power. You have us to raise you right. And we have the choice to do this right," he said as I could feel the tears running down his cheeks, leaving little wet spots on my shirt.

A couple of hunters came running our way. In between breaths, they finally managed to say that the monsters from purgatory were gone. The dead had gone back to their graves.

Earth was still a mess. But she'd given us a chance.

We heard a rumble. Deep from within the Earth. I ran to everyone and told them to huddle close. I put my shield back up.

The words rolled over the Earth like a hurricane.

"I am the Alpha and Omega. The Beginning and the End. You will fall. You will fail."

I looked to Castiel. He looked as though someone had put the fear of God into him.

"The Void," he said, terror in his voice.

Darkness swallowed us. We could see the destruction around us. But it was silent. Then it stopped. Just as quickly as it started.

I touched the ruby cage.

 _He won't be strong enough for a while. Long enough for your children to have a chance. For what she gave her life for._

I looked around and saw that Sam and Jess, Meg and Cas, Dean had all heard that.

We looked at each other.

The six of us held hands as the silent darkness tried to swallow us again. We stood strong. We stood tall. We weren't afraid.


End file.
